


Crossroad Stories

by corzalaura



Category: Doctor Who, Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, F/M, Superwho, and all that sass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-25
Updated: 2015-11-28
Packaged: 2017-12-24 14:58:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/941329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corzalaura/pseuds/corzalaura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Freshly divorced, Donna searched for new experiences in Amerika. She didn't know what was in store for her when she meet the crossroad demon Crowley and started a rather disharmonious relationship with him. /story takes place after DW's "The End Of Time" and follows SPN's events from season four on</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

The wipers worked on high speed as Donna drove along the muddy road. The rain came down in big droplets and she had problems to see through the dark night.

This wasn't how she'd imagined her long overdue vacations. She was tired and hungry and had no idea where she was. She should have reached her motel an hour ago, but it seemed as if at some point she had taken the wrong turn and now she couldn't find her way back to the main road.

She let out a string of profanities and cursed everyone and everything on earth for her being lost, especially her former husband. If he hadn't cheated on her with that slutty girl from the coffee shop, they wouldn't have had a divorce and she wouldn't have tried to show the world how freaking fine she was by realising her dreams of traveling the world.

Now she was somewhere on the east coast of the United States, desperately searching for the next place to sleep this night.

She took a quick look at the antique street map that came along with the rusty rental car.

Too late she saw the first road sign since miles fly by out of the corner of her eyes. Immediately she hit the brakes and the car came to a slippery stop. She shifted the gear into reverse and nudged the gas, but the old Dodge didn't move. She pushed the pedal further and with a great amount of soaring mud, the wheels started spinning.

"Brilliant", she thought as it dawned on her that she was stuck for good. "Bloody brilliant!"

With an annoyed sigh, she tucked up her jackets collar and stepped out of the car. Her feet sank deep into the wet dirt and she had problems to walk without losing her not so weather-fitting shoes. The map didn't really keep her save from the rain as she held it above her head, and she was soaked before she even reached the street sign.

It was difficult to read without a better source of light then her cellphone but she managed to find out that Woodbine was only five miles away.

Great, this was definitely not part of the route she had planned to travel.

She unfolded the map to see how far away from her actual road she was and let out a frustrated cry as the drenched paper just ripped apart in her hands.

This can't get any worse, she thought before she even found out that her phone didn't get any signal.

Weighting her options in her mind, she decided that five miles weren't that far to walk and no way in hell she would sleep in this smelly vehicle with those suspicious stains on the seats. After a good nights rest in a comfy bed she could come back with help and get the car out of the mud.

Determined to find the next motel, she started walking down the road, now and then cursing the damn americans, who couldn't build proper streets.

The rain had lessened and the clouds slowly went away to make room for the bright shinning moon.

Donna had already walked for some time as she thought she could see some light further down the road.

She squinted her eyes and, yes, there actually were two red dots in the dark. A car's rear lights!

A certain bounce came back into her steps as she hastened towards her salvation. As she moved closer, she could see two men standing on the crossroad next to the car.

They didn't notice her approaching, for they seemed to be to engrossed into their conversation.

"Excuse me", she called out.

One of the men whipped around, startled. The other one just gave her a short glare, before he turned back to his partner, but he was already fondling the car's door handle.

"My car's stuck and I need to get to the next town."

Before she could even end her sentence, the frightened man had jumped into tge vehicle and started the motor.

"Hey!", she screamed and started running after the him. "Hey, stop!"

But the guy didn't listen to her and Donna could only watch as the back lights vanished in the night.

"Yeah, thank's for nothing!", she yelled after him. "Leaving a lost woman on her own. I hope you'll burn in Hell!"

"He would have if it weren't for you."

Donna turned around in shock. She had already forgotten about the second man. She tried to calm her heart that was racing from the running and her sudden fear.

Get a grip, she thought, at least the self-defence course won't have been for nothing if this guy would try to rape you.

She walked back to him, but left enough space between them, so that he couldn't jump her without warning.

The man's face was still calm as if he didn't care that he was just left standing in the middle of nowhere. He wore an expensive looking suit under a black coat and his dress shoes still looked shiny despite all the sludge he was standing in.

As her eyes drifted back up to his round face, she could see that he had also looked her up and down, a boyish glint in his eyes.

"Well, the night's still young and I wouldn't like to have come all the way for nothing. So, fancy a deal?"

Donna's mouth fell open and she stared at him in an offended manner.

"Do I look like a prostitute to you?!"

He stared bewildered at her for a moment before he understood what she was talking about.

"Hell, no! That's not the kind of deal I meant."

"You better not, mister, or you'll know the taste of your own testicles before you can even drop your pants!"

A deep chuckle left the man's throat.

"Cheeky. I like that. What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Noble. Donna Noble",she answered with as much confidence as she could bring up. "And I'm not your sweetheart."

"Well, Mrs. Noble-"

"What?", she interrupted him. "Do I look too old to be a miss?"

"Are you a miss?"

"That's none of your concern."

The man started to look irritated.

"Well, Donna Noble", he started again, a little edge in his voice. "I can make all of your dreams come true. Wealth, fame, power, whatever that small heart of yours could wish for. You get to live the dream for, well, let's see" he crocked his head in thought as he seemed to get into some kind of business-mode. "How about five years?"  
"Yeah, sure. And what happens after those five years?"

"Not much, your soul just becomes my property and I'll send some of my nicer hellhounds to get it and drag it down into the pit."

Donna snorted.

"Who do you think you are? The devil?"

"No, not the devil. I'm a demon. They call me Crowley, King of the crossroads."

"I have no idea what they've slipped into your drink, you mad man, but I don't have time for your little tea party. I've got to get to the next motel."

She turned around to walk away and shrieked as she stood suddenly toe to toe in front of that crazy man.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?", he asked casually and before she could even react and slam her knee into his groin or make some other ninja move she had learned for situations like this, he had grabbed her by her shoulders and swept her off her feet.

Abruptly the world around her turned into a grey fog that started swirling around her and pressed against her body, making it hard to breath. For a short moment she wondered how fast the drugs that this Crowley seemed to have somehow given to her could have kicked in, when in the next second her feet were back on solid ground and her surroundings came back into sharp view.

They weren't standing on a muddy road at the end of the world anymore, but on the parking space in front of a posh looking motel.

Donna jerked herself free of Crowley's grip and looked around in bewilderment.

"Oh my God. You kidnapped me? You kidnapped me!"

"Hell, no! You wanted to get to the next motel and I got you here. Okay, it's not really the closest motel but I was so free to bring us somewhere more classy. Having the proper stage for our little deal, you know."

"I am so gonna sue your ass for this!", she screamed as she rushed towards the reception.

"Thank God!", she shouted out as she stormed inside and saw a young woman sitting behind the desk.

"You have to help me, you have to call the police. There's a weirdo who's talking about a deal. I don't know if he sells sex or drugs, but he kidnapped me!"

"Don't worry," the receptionist smiled. "You're safe now."

Donna could barely register the woman's eyes turning coal black, as she launched herself over the desk and on top of the redhead. She kicked and screamed, but her attacker was unbelievable strong for her small figure. She hold her still on the ground and bend her head down to take a sniff of the ginger hair.

"You smell delicious. I can't wait to rip every piece of flesh of your bones and devour it."

She trailed her teeth down Donnas neck to her shoulder, where she increased the pressure of the bite. Just as the skin was about to break and drew blood, the door was thrown open.

"Oi, scum!"

The receptionist let go of her victim and looked with wide eyes up to the man standing in the door.

Crowley strolled inside as if he was just interrupting a friendly conversation.

"That's my customer your about to eat."

"Crowley!"

She stared at him with a mixture of hate and fear before she slowly stood up and moved away from Donna.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she was with you."

"Pity, but you know the rules, sweetheart."

He stepped closer to her and she looked legitimately frightened.

"You touch my souls, I'll burn your bones."

"No, please no!", she started to beg and shake her head as her whole body started to shiver.

A small smile crossed Crowley's lips as he snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye the sobbing woman was gone.

Donna stood up on shaking legs and stared at the man, trying to digest what just happened in front of her.

"What the-", she started, but couldn't find the power to end her sentence. She pointed at the place were her attacker just stood a few seconds before.

"She was-"

"A demon", Crowley concluded for her.

"And you are-"

"Also a demon, but of a higher rank. As I said, King of the crossroads."

"So that's all true. What you've been saying, you really want me to sell you my soul?"

"Preferable."

Slowly Donna's face turned from disbelief to rage.

"That is so typical! I get cheated on, get a divorce, get lost in bloody America and now a friggin demon wants my soul and what did my ex-husband get? A 22-year-old, skinny Starbucks-slut!"

Crowley looked really taken aback now, but she continued regardless.

"What did I do to the universe that I deserve this?! My soul! He wants my bloody soul! You listen to me now, mate. I am sick of everyone pushing me around, wanting something from me. I'll have none of it anymore!"

"So, I won't get your soul?"

"No!", she screamed right into his face.

Whipping her hair dramatically, she turned around and went outside.

Crowley was already standing outside awaiting her but she didn't gave him a glance, not even wondering anymore how he could have moved so fast. She walked straight past him to the illuminated street.

A car passed and she waved her arms, but it just honked and drove past.

"I could bring you if you wanted to get anywhere else", Crowley offered.

"Travel by demon taxi, next stop hell?!", she snorted as she waved at another car. "No, thanks. And I don't want to get anywhere, I just want to get away from you!"

"And you're sure I can't convince you otherwise?"

A taxi pulled finally over and Donna jumped into the backseat without answering him.

"Obviously no. Well then, Donna Noble. Have a nice and long unfulfilled life."

He wiggled his fingers in a good-bye and she flipped him the bird. Then the car pulled out and drove into the night.

Crowley stood still on the sidewalk looking after the car for moment.

"I should have just killed her", he declared to no one but the cool night air before he too vanished, to go back to look after his business.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not creative enough for chapter titles, hell, I'm not even happy witht the story title!

Two days after his interrupted deal Crowley's thoughts recurred to his encounter with the sassy redhead.

It was seldom that someone had left him speechless and even more uncommon for him to leave that person unharmed and yet somewhere on this planet Donna Noble was still alive and kicking and terrorizing other people.

He couldn't forget about the incident, not even during a good glass of his favorite scotch or after trading a woman's soul for ten years as an actress, taking advantage of a loop hole, wherein she never said she doesn't want to become famous for starring in porn movies.

That is why he was sitting now at a table with his two most reliable staff members in his conference room.

Technically he was still in hiding after giving the Winchesters the Colt to kill Lucifer. A lot of demons saw it as a betrayal and wanted him dead, but they were to stupid to understand that he did it so save them all.

Lucifer was just another angel and like all of those dicks he doesn't give a rats ass about the demons. He'd probably even just kill them all after bringing down the Apocalypse.

The two crossroad demons at his table were the last ones he did trust enough to let them know about his whereabouts without fearing that one of them would sell him out. In fact they were the last crossroads demon who didn't went rogue and helped him to keep the business running as good as possible with only two associates.

"I want Donna Nobles soul!", he declared. "I want it in a nice wrapping on a silver tablet and I don't care what you'll have to do! Just be assured that you'll be rewarded far higher than your input has been."

"With all respect, Sir", the demon to his right said. Lydia was a beautiful blonde woman as most of his subordinates. It was a great advantage in making a kiss-deal if your customer was attracted to you.

"I researched Nobles background and I found her name in an old legend. It's called the song of the Ood and it says that the Doctor Donna brings salvation. This person is declared as the most important woman in the universe. She saved this whole planet and more!"

Pretty and smart, Crowley thought. That's why she was one of his best. Still he couldn't see her point.

"That makes her even more fun to have around."

"Why don't we just kill her?", Belphegor asked.

He was currently wearing the meat suit of a bonnie latina for the same reasons as Lydia was wearing that of the pretty blonde, but Crowley still found it confusing everytime he would occupy a female body.

"Didn't you listen to what I just said?", Lydia countered. "She's a hero! A saint! She would fly first class straight up into heaven."

"We'll have to be persuasive", the King of the crossroads interrupted their banter. "Find out more about her. I want to know her most inner secrets. Even saints have something they desire and as soon as we have the right leverage we can put her soul on a special place in our trophy cabinet."

The demons nodded dutifully and then disappeared to start on their new task.

Crowley got off his seat himself. He couldn't just sit around and wait for this pack of staghounds to come back with something useful. He had to make his own research. Determined he changed into a fresh suit, one of his favourites, and headed out.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It was Donna's first night in Jacksonville and she wanted to celebrate her arrival in Florida with a high priced dinner in a fancy restaurant.

She deserved it, she presumed, after surviving the encounter with two demons and what all.

Dressed in a dark blue sheath dress that showed off her cleavage just right, she walked up to the restaurants front desk.

"Donna Noble, I have a reservation."

"Uh, yes, Miss Noble. Your company already awaits you at your table."

"My company?", she asked confused but the concierge didn't explain further, just took her to a table in a far corner of the restaurant.

A man was already sitting there, nursing a whiskey and grinning like the Cheshire cat as he saw her approaching.

"It's you!", she proclaimed disbelieving as she recognized Crowley at the table-for-two.

"Donna, darling, have a seat!"

He stood up and pulled out a chair but she hesitated.

"Come on, don't be rude. I just want to talk."

"Alright, but you're gonna pay the check", she said as she sat reluctantly.

"So what do you want this time?"

He chuckled as he seated himself opposite of her.

"You look good."

"Oh, don't act so surprised."

"It was just a statement. Did you want to meet someone else here?"

"No, I just wanted to enjoy the evening alone. On my own. Without any demon."

"Yeah, I got the hint. So this is what a living legend does in her free time? Eating by herself?"

"I'm on my vacations."

"You need some rest after saving the universe, I understand."

"What are you talking about?" She was utterly confused by now, her eyebrows tightly knitted together.

"I'm talking about you and your great journey through space."

"This is my first time away from England , she stated, one hand massaging her temple, for her head had started aching with a painful throb.

"So you never lassoed earth and brought it back home to it's solar system?"

"You're talking rubbish!"

"And you're lying even though we both know the truth!"

"What would you like to drink?", the waitress interrupted them.

"Oi!", they screamed in union. "Can't you see we're in the middle of a discussion?", Donna scolded her.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to interrupt when the grown ups have a conversation?", Crowley agreed.

"Sir." A blonde woman was suddenly standing next to their table. "Can we have a word?"

"Can't it wait, Lydia?", Crowley growled now seriously aggravated.

"I'm afraid it can't. It's about your current project", she explained with a short glance towards Donna.

With a suppressed groan Crowley stood up and excused himself, then followed Lydia a few feet away from the table.

"Make it quick."

"She's a time bomb", the blonde demon declared. "She was part of an instantaneous biological meta crisis. Her mind was combined with that of a time lord. The transformation would have killed her if her memory hadn't been whipped away."

"So she saved the whole of reality but can't remember a thing?", Crowley asked stunned.

"It would crush her."

He looked thoughtfully over to their table where the most important woman of the universe studied the menu, ignorant to her own significance.

"Thank you, Lydia", he said as he moved back towards Donna. "Let me know if you'll find out anything more important. Oh, and Lydia!"

He turned around to her.

You shouldn't tell anyone about this, okay? And I mean no one! We don't want the cavalry on our heels just because we want this angel to ditch her spot in heaven, right?

Lydia nodded her approval. I'll erase my witnesses immediately.

With the cold devotion of an office clerk who was told to make some copies she marched away.

"What was that about?", Donna asked as Crowley sat back down.

"Nothing of import. Just business."

"Demon business?", she dug deeper.

"You could say so, but let's not talk about that. You're on your vacations! Anything special you wanted to see?", he changed the topic.

Donna smiled conspiratorially, letting him know that she would ask again later, and they both fell into a lighthearted conversation.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Crowley filled Donna's fourth glass of wine.

Their dessert plates have long been removed and the restaurant was nearly empty.

"I shouldn't drink anymore", Donna slurred as she picked up her glass. "I'm drunk!"

"Aw, come on. You're on vacation, you're supposed to have some fun! Be reckless, make some stupid mistakes you can laugh about afterwards."

"Wait, are you trying to get me drunk so I'll sell you my soul?"

"What? No! No, that's not what I meant. Why would you think that? You really should give me some more credit. All I'm saying is that you should enjoy yourself, no matter what. You seem like a person who takes things into her own hands instead of waiting for her dreams to come true. Look at you, you just got a divorce and here you are, traveling the world like you wanted for so long."

"What can I say, I'm a twenty-first-century woman."

She took a sip from her glass, the wine tasting sweet on her tounge and dyeing her lips in a darker shape of red. When she looked back up, her eyes were glassy and her voice had a hint of melancholy in it.

"I'm not really living the dream. I just really wished that it had worked out between me and Shaun. I wanted the suburban life, you know. I wanted the house, the children, a dog and a picket fence. I was just naive enough to believe that Shaun would love me for the rest of our lives."

"Men, right? They always let you down."

"You know what? If there was one thing that I'd really wish for it would be for a really big dog who'd be trained to do what ever I want. And then I would tell him to play with Shaun's testicles like they were some chewing toy!"

Crowley laughed out loud at that while Donna went on regardless.

"I want him bleeding and begging for mercy. And I wish for the breast implants of his Starbucks-slut to implode! I want him to suffer as much as I suffered! You have no idea how embarrassing it had been to tell all of my family and friends about it. Everyone pitied me and they had this look on their faces like they knew all along that Donna couldn't keep a man for long. I want people to look at him the same way. I want them to pity him, thinking 'We knew he couldn't keep his balls together for long. Sooner or later some woman must have come along and cut them off!'"

Crowley was wiping the tears off his face by now, his other hand holding his stomach which started to hurt from laughter.

"You know all about hot-blooded revenge, I see", he said after calming himself down.

"Maybe I should hire you as a consultant."

"To screw with innocent people, chisel their soul out of them to torture it in hell? No, thank you. I don't think I could do that."

The demon raised a hand to his chest feigning to be offended.

"You really believe that's what I do? First of all, I don't torture any souls, I'm not getting my hands dirty on those. I'm a simple tradesman, all I do is to deal with them. What happens with them afterwards is none of my business. And for the record, none of my customers are ever really innocent."

For the first time since the two sat together Donna kept her mouth shut, lost in her own thoughts.

"It's not like I force them to give me their souls", Crowley broke the silence. "I mean, we're together in here for pretty long now and you're still perfectly fine."

"Except that I'm pissed like an old sailor!",

Donna announced under a fit of giggles that nearly threw her off her chair.

"I think we should call it a night", Crowley smiled to himself as he waved for the waitress.

He paid for the dinner, giving the waitress a ridiculous high tip, and then took Donnas arm to help her up and lead her out of the restaurant.

"Come on, big girl, I'll bring you home."

"I'm not a big girl," she complained slumping against his side. "I'm a lady!"

"And what a lady," he chuckled. "I've never seen a woman devour a steak that fast. It was quite impressing."

"Thank you." She tried to drop a curtsy and Crowley had to grab her by her shoulders to keep her from tripping over.

"Oi! Careful! Are you ready to set home? , he asked as he steadied her. "I wouldn't want you to barf out your belly on the way. This is my favourite suit after all."

She waved her hand.

"I'm fine."

"Okay, then let's go."

The feeling of being pushed around from every side crushed above Donna again and she lost her orientation of where was up and down. For a moment she thought she was going to be sick when finally it was over and her feet were back on solid ground.

She swayed a little, but Crowley's strong grip on her shoulders kept her standing.

Shaking him off, she took a look around. They were standing in her motel room, next to her bed.

Carefully she moved over and then let herself drop face first onto the mattress, feet dangling in the air.

Crowley sighed behind her before he stepped closer and repositioned her.

"Clean thoughts, chump!", she mumbled into the pillow and he couldn't fight the smile that creeped onto his face.

He took off her shoes and pulled a blanket over her already sleeping form.

"Sleep tight, Donna Noble" he whispered before he turned around and left.


	3. 3

Donna woke up with a throbbing pain in her head. She let out a pitiful moan and turned around in the comfy bed. Pulling the blanket over her head, she tried to hide from the offending light.

Wondering how much she had to drink last night, she tried to recal her evening at the restaurant.

With a start she sat up in her bed as soon as she remembered in whose company she has been. The last thing she knew was that the bloody demon had got her sloshed to do who knows what with her.

Frantically she searched her body for any indication of mistreatment, but except for her shoes she was still completly dressed and she was practically unharmed if she excluded her nasty hangover. If she was honest, she didn't even know how someone would feel any different without his soul.

She rushed out of bed to take a look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She couldn't find any change in her looks neither.  
Contented that Crowley didn't seem to have pulled some trick on her, she started to clean last nights traces away.

Standing under the shower, she thought back to yesterday's events. As far as she could recall, for being a demon Crowley had been nothing but a gentleman and great company.

Since the abrupt end of her short marriage she had avoided the company of other people. Most of the time she couldn't stand the thought of other people being all up her grill, wanting to know how her marriage could go downhill this fast and reminding her what a failure she was.

Crowley on the other hand didn't want to know about any of that stuff. He wanted to know what she was about to do next. He was interested in what plans she had for her more likely future now and not what her plans used to be when she still believed in a happily ever after and this kind of distraction felt astonishing good.

The only part that could need improvement were his skills as a drinking mate. It wasn't that he didn't drink as much as Donna, the booze just didn't seem to have the same affect on him as it had on her.

After getting dressed, she wondered how she should spend the rest of the day. A look at the watch told her that it was already to late to drive the five hours down to Miami, so she decided to stay in Jacksonville for another day and continue her journey tomorrow.

The money that her father had left her in form of a winning lottery ticket wasn't anymore as much as in the beginning, since her ex-husband received a good part of it after their divorce, but it was still enough to travel the world without worrying what tomorrow might bring.

Maybe she should go to that fancy restaurant once more to see if the King of the crossroads would await her there again.

Yes, she thought, she wouldn't mind another evening with the appealing demon.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 

Dressed in a new attire she had waited at the restaurant for two hours before she acknowledged that Crowley wouldn't come that evening.

And he didn't come the next evening or the evening after that.

Frustrated over her own naivity she went back to her former intentions and drove to Miami.

It was a week since she had last seen Crowley, when she was walking along Miami Beach, her feet in the water and a giant sun hat on her head.

Around her, young attractive people were frizzling in the sun, showing of their muscles and cleavage.

She strolled along the water to a more isolated part of the beach, trying to get away from the crowd.

Aside from the turmoil she stopped and looked out into the stunning rich colour of the ocean.

She felt comlpetely at ease as she breathed in the salty air and digged her toes in the sand,the blue stretching across the horizont calming her nerves.

All the more bugged she felt as she sensed someone approaching her.

She turned around and her chin dropped as she saw who was walking towards her but she quickly pulled herself together and looked back at the water.

Closing her eyes she streched her face towards the sun, letting it warm up her skin.

The sound of the waves were the only noise as he came closer silently.

"I hope you have a good excuse for your absence" , she said without facing him, her voice hard as she tried not to show how much she actually had missed his company.

"Kind of", Crowley answered as he stopped next to her.

They stood in silence for a while, Crowley fidgety kicking the ground as the wind blew threw their hair.

Finally she looked at him, not able to keep the teasing smile of her face.

"And? Spill it, where the hell have you been?"

His posture relaxed visibly and he cracked a smile himself as he answered.

"Oh, the usual stuff. Hunting the horsemen, fighting Lucifer."

"An average day , Donna mocked."

"Yeah, an average day in the times of the Apocalypse", he agreed and watched with amusement and irritation as she started to laugh.

"What? You don't believe me?"

She shook her head.

"No, not really. It's hard to believe that the Apocalypse is rising when your having such a nice day at the beach."

"That's the thing about the Apocalypse, you don't notice it until it's too late."

She mustered him, his usual outfit perfectly in shape, with no sign of him sweating under the warm attire.

"So. The Apocalypse."

"Yeah."

"No shit?"

"I'm not kidding you."

They looked back at the horizon, their mood suddenly sober.

"Wait", she said, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you fighting Lucifer? Shouldn't you be one of the bad guys?"

"What's that supposed to mean?", Crowley asked offended.

"You're a demon."

"Don't be a rassist! I'm on my own side", he declared exasperated and crossed his arms.

"Okay", she soothed him with her hands up.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude, but you're acting like a Prima Donna."

Without regarding his shocked face she kept on talking, sarcasm filling her voice.

"Please enlighten me why you would want to stop Lucifer instead of promoting Hell on earth."

Crowley huffed before he started explaining.

"Lucifer is an angel."

He could see the confusion in Donnas face and elaborated.

"He fell!"

"Yeah, right." Remembering her religion class she waved a hand and told him to continue.

"A fallen angel wants to bring the Apocalypse and kill all humans."

He speaked very slowly as if lecturing a child and Donna had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

"If he already hates your species this much, how do you think he feels towards us demons? We're just another kind of insects on his extinction list."

"So you're trying to save the world out of necessity?", she completed.

"You could say so."

"Huh, a nice demon. Who would have thought", Donna mumbled under her breath.

"Hey, I've been nothing but nice to you!"

"You wanted to get my soul! And then you kidnapped me!", she reproached him with a laugh in her voice that told him that she wasn't actually angry anymore.

"I did not!", he tried to defend himself. "I did you a favour. And I still want your soul, but I accept your wish to keep it." With a wicked grin and his head crooked to the side he added:"For now."

Donna rolled her eyes and punched his arm playfully.

"How are you gonna do this? Is there any big plan to stop the Apocalypse?"

"You seem strangely composed for facing the end of the world", Crowley commented while she just shrugged her shoulders and pulled a face.

"I have the feeling I've seen worth."

"I bet you did", he answered only half joking.

They walked along the water while Crowley told her everything about his alliance with the Winchester and their plan to find all the four horsemen to get their rings which could imprison Lucifer.

Sometimes Donna interupted him when she didn't understand something though for most of the time Crowley was the one talking and she listened intrigued.

It helped him to exhibit every part of their plan once again and to be able to see it from a different point of view. He felt even more confident about their scheme now.

He was just telling her about the Deal with Bobby Singer, wherein he got the man's soul for the information of Death's whereabouts, as Donna halted him mid speech.

"Why didn't you just tell them where Death is?", she asked in disbelieve.

"I'm still a tradesman! There's got to be something out of it for me."

"And what did Bobby get out of it?"

He starred at her with irritation.

"As I said, he got the location of Death out of it."

"So he can sacrifice his soul for the greater good, but you can't safe the world if there's nothing in it for you?"

"Do I have to explain the concept of demons to you once again?", he started to banter.

"He seld his soul, it should pay off for him too", she insisted.

"He's an old grumpy man. What could he want?!"

"He's an old grumpy man in a wheel chair", she specified starring into his face and waiting for the penny to drop.

"Oh, you think he'd want to be able to walk again!", he exclaimed. "Well, he didn't say anything about that to me."

"You could still heal him."

"Why should I?"

"Just because!", she argumented inefficient. Giving it a short thought she added:"He would be of more use to you if he could fight too."

Crowley complentated it for a moment.

"But the contract's already been made."

"Don't talk rubbish, you could just add it."

"I can't change the contract without the other party acknowledging it."

"I promise you, he won't say no to this new part of the deal. Why don't you just add it and the next time you see him you tell him to stand up. If he does, he obviously wanted to be able to stand, and if he doesn't, he'll stay a cripple for the rest of his life. Which probably won't be much longer anyway."

Crowley sighed defeated.

"Okay, I'll do it. But just so I have one more man standing tall fighting for me!", he clarified as Donna pumped her fist in the air in victory.

He watched her with a glint in his eyes as she stroke her rust-coloured hair behind her ear, smiling broadly. It was a shame that she was wearing a light beach dress, he thought. She may not be as fit as the young lassies playing volleyball further down the beach, but he wouldn't have minded to see some more skin.

He noticed that she was surveying him too and quickly brought his eyes back to her face.

"Ain't this the wrong outfit for a day at the beach?", she asked pointing at his suit.

"I already left my shoes behind", he pouted, looking down at his bare feet. "I feel exposed enough. This is the most casual I've been in a while. Infact this feels like a small vacation. Even the dog enjoys himself."

"What dog?", Donna asked bewildered and looked around for the animal.

"Oh, I've let him run free since I came to you. He's over there."

The demon pointed to the far end of the beach where stones covered the way to the water and no people were lying around, everyone prefering the soft sand.

Crowley blew out a loud whistle.

"Here he comes."

"I can't see him." Donna squinted her eyes as she surveyed the beach.

"You'll notice", Crowley said crypticly and soon enough Donna could see sand whirling up in the air and a trail of giant paws coming closer until it stopped right infront of them and she could hear the pants of a dog.

She watched with wide eyes as Crowley petted the air infront of them.

"This is my hellhound", he said with obvious pride in his voice. "Thought I should bring him. He deserves a treat since he fought off that other pack of hounds that has been following me. You can pet him if you want to."

She gave him an uncertain look.

"No reason to be afraid", he assured her. "He only bites when I tell him to."

Hesistant she reached out to where Crowley's hand was resting comfortable in the air.

The hellhound felt moist and tender, as if she tried to touch the fog from a smoke machine, yet still strangely solid.

"Impressing", she said with a high pitched voice as she pulled back her hand and wiped off on her dress. "What's his name?"

"Dogs like that have no use for a name. They're more feared when they're just called 'the hellhound'."

"Capital 'H' and all", she mocked him. "Yeah, sounds much more frightening."

She shrieked as she suddenly felt something nudging her leg.

"He's just sniffing you", Crowley commented chuckling as she shoved him in the side, telling him that he shouldn't laugh at her, but that made his grin only grow further.

After some banter the smile on his face started to dwindle at last.

"Guess vacations are over", he proclaimed.

"We're heading off to Chicago soon. My source says that Death will be there."

"Ah yes, you and your crew will be facing Death soon."

Crowley shooked his head smirking.

"No, please, don't call them that."

"Sorry, I wanted to say you and your pawns", Donna corrected herself.

"Much better! Well then", he trailed off. With a wink he turned around and walked away, his feet dragging through the sand.

"Oi!", she called after him and looked back, squinting his eyes as he faced towards the sun.

"Be careful!"

"Don't worry", he said with an artificial smile. "The King is usualy the last piece on board that falls."

With a sharp whistle he started walking again. Donna could see the trace of the invisible hellhound following the footsteps of his master until they both vanished in a swirl of sand and the two tracks stopped in the middle of the beach.


	4. 4

The next days Donna was restless at night and fidgety all day. The nagging thought of the imminent Apocalypse kept her on her toes as she tried to get the hang on the thought that a handfull of men were somewhere fighting Lucifer on their own and no one around her was aware of their looming fate.

People went on with their lifes, bustling busily through the cities in their daily routines and it frustrated Donna to no end.

Yet she knew that she couldn't talk to someone about it unless she wanted to be called a lunatic. Angels? Demons? She wouldn't believe it either if she hadn't met one herself.

Speaking of which, that stupid son of a biscuit shall better come back in one piece or she'll crumble him herself.

Next to Crowley and his impossible task her thoughts kept drifting back to her family. Her mother and her grandfather may have the ability to drive her up the walls sometimes but she still loved them and she wanted to see them once more before they all probably died.

Her mind been made up she booked a flight back home to London.

She had just checked-in her luggage and now was standing in line for the security screen as she suddenly felt the earth move with an unsettling force.

The light of the lamps and tv screens flickered before they turned off completely. People around her started screaming and running to all sides, trying to find a cover they could duck under the way they've learned in case of an earthquake.

The security staff barked orders to the panicking crowd, trying to calm everyone down and get control over the situation.

Donna had stumbled to the ground as the first waves of the earthquake had startled the woman in line infront of her and she had suddenly jumped around, running towards the next exit, while she knocked away everyone standing in her way.

Too shocked to even curse at the hysterical lady Donna got back on her feet, helping the old man who had felt next to her.

"An earthquake in Miami?!", he shouted baffled as he straightened his glasses. "There wasn't an earthquake in Florida since twenty years!"

"Maybe it wasn't an earthquake", a man next to them said, anxiouty written all over his face. "Maybe it was an explosion! Terrorist are blowing up the whole airport! We should get the fuck out of here, Robert!"

He grabbed the man with the glasses by his arm and dragged him away. Donna followed them not knowing what else she should do but lost track of them as a group of tourists pushed past her.

As she bulled through the crowd she tried to smell any smoke and kept her eyes open for fire but there weren't any signs of it.

Suddenly her feet stumbled over something on the ground. She looked down and her crumbled as she saw a small girl sitting there wheeping.

Blood ran down her face and Donna couldn't tell if she was crying out of pain or fear.

Without a second thought she bent down and took her up into her arms.

Her ears were ringing with the sound of the child crying for her mother and her feet hurt from all the people stomping on them but she pushed on regardless, her whole conciousness switched into emergency-mode.

An outcry went through the airports hall as a second quake, even stronger than the first one, shook the earth.

The windows that were lining along one wall of the hall shattered and fell with a loud clash to the ground.

If the people have been frightened before it was no comparison to now.

Donna fought hard against the stream of refugees but was pushed around regardless.

The defeaning sound of sirens started to blast through the airport as Donna finally made it through the cluster infront of the emergency exit.

A paramedic stormed over and asked her if she was alright. She told him that she was fine but that the girls head wouldn't stop bleeding.

With a quick glance at the wound he pointed towards an ambulance and shoved her forwards, screaming at the people to clear the way for the rescue workers.

Donna moved with the crowd on to the street were the ambulance waited.

It was pure choas. Cars were parked in the middle of the streets, groups of people had gathered everywhere to comfort each other. In between the officials ran around trying to coordinate the rescue operations and help whereever they could. Bricks and stones were spreaded over the sidewalks and the dust from the few collapsed buildings still hang in the air.

Donna carried the girl to the ambulance that was pointed out to her. Another paramedic immediately came over and took the child from her. She followed them inside the vehicle.

The little girl still hadn't stopped crying and the medic had problems to examine her head.

"Are you her mother?", she asked Donna.

"No", she stammered. "She was just lying on the ground and I couldn't -"

"Doesn't matter!", the woman interupted her.

"Not at the moment anyway. Hold her head still."

Donna did as she was told and whispered calming words while the paramedic took care of the girls wound.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Many tiring hours later Donna sat in a hospitals hallway, the bandaged head of the little girl, Maddy, resting in her lap.

The ambulance had brought them and a lot of other injured people here and they had waited a long time until a doctor had taken care of them.

After making sure that Maddy only had a lacuration and not a concussion, Donna had stayed with her as the police gathered their data, refusing to leave the girl alone.

Now they sat on the ground of the overcrowded hospitalhalls and waited for Maddy's mother to find her.

The quite mumble of the patience filled the rooms and the typical antiseptical smell of hospitals tingled in Donnas nose.

She caressed the head of the sleeping girl, careful not to touch the patched up wound as a woman came rushing around the corner, whippinig her head around franticaly.

She froze for a moment as her eyes fell on Donna and the child curled in her lap before she cried out and launched towards them.

"Maddy!"

The girl squirmed, recognizing her mothers voice even in her slumber, then her eyes fluttered open.

Fully awaken at once she stood up and jumped eagerly in the welcoming arms of her mother.

Donna got up herself as the reunited family hugged each other, tears of joy running down their cheeks now that the anxiety was over.

Then the mother turned towards her and pulled her into the hug, thanking her between sobs.

Donna hugged her back akwardly, telling her that it was taken for granted to take care for a lost child.

Not letting go of her daughter once the woman thanked her again before she waved her goodbye, saying that she still had to meet up with her husband.

Donna watched them leave and vanishing behind the corner as another person stepped around it.

Her eyes widened as she saw Crowley making his way down the hall. As his eyes finally rested upon her his posture relaxed visibly and he speeded up his steps.

In an instant she had hurried towards him and pulled him in a tight hug that could crash ribs.

She hadn't noticed how tensed she'd been the whole time until the demon had thrown his arms around her and her muscles lost their strain immediately. She buried her face into the fabric of his jacket and took a deep breath, filling her nostrils with the strangely calming mixture of whiskey and sulfur. Every part of her body ached, her back from falling to the ground, her arms from carrying Maddy, her head from being so upstrung for so long, but nothing of it mattered anymore, because in this short moment she finally felt safe again.


	5. 5

Donna tightened her grip once more before she let go of Crowley. He held her at an arms lenght, looking her up and down.

"Are you alright?", he asked worried.

"Yeah", she assured him and whipped away a tear she hadn't realised she'd sheated.

"Just a little bit emotionaly distressed, I guess."

She cracked him a smile that he didn't return. Instead he looked her over once more and then grabbed her by her shoulder.

"Let's get out of her. Hospitals give me the creeps."

He lead her down the hall, his grip on her arm so tight that it started to hurt, but she didn't say anything, because it was him holding onto her so firmly that told her that his nervy manner had nothing to do with being in a hospital.

"What's wrong? Is it about Lucifer? Did you kill him?", she asked with her voice lowered down as they passed other patients.

"They didn't do it", he simply stated and Donna stopped in her tracks, starring at him in disbelieve.

"What?!" A few poeple turned around and watched them at her outcry.

Crowley glared at them before he laid his hand on the small of her back and pushed her onwards.

"They fucked up, okay!", he hissed into her ear as they marched through the corridors. "This earthquake, all those natural catastrophes around the world, their all just symptoms of what is about to come. Now that Lucifer's got his vessel he will fight against Michael and that will lead to an MCA extravaganza!"

He gave her a tight-lipped smile and finally Donna could map out all the emotions in his face. He wasn't just nervous, but angry, afraid and frustrted all at once.

"So, what will we do now?"

"What every intelligent creature would do in this situation. We get drunk!"

She gaped at him perplexed and felt her own stomach drop at his hopeless answer.

"Yeah, but where are we going?", she asked frantically trying to squeeze something positive out of him.

They bursted through a door that lead to the staircase. Crowley looked the steps up and down making sure that they were alone.

"I have a refuge for cases like this. We'll hide there and then we'll wait."

The words echoed through the silence of the chilly hallway. His voice was hard and his eyes were narrowed to small slots, missing usual wicked glint.

Donna ran her finger through her hair musing it up. She fidget from one leg to the other as Crowley waited for her to say something.

"You try to run away from the apocalypse?", she asked more out of lack of anything else to say.

He threw his hands up in a mixture of anger and desperation.

"Well, are you coming or not?", he demanded, shouting so loud by now that the whole hospital must have heard him.

"Of course, dumbo!", she shouted back and graped the lapels of his jacket.

Without another word he took hold of her and the now familiar feeling of being shoved through the air came back to her. Except that this time it was so much worse. The pressure on her body was so much higher and the direction of their flight changed in such a fury that her head hurt and her stomach turned over.

She wanted to scream at the demon to go slower but all the air was squeezed out of her lungs and as she tried to fill them the thick smoke that surrounded her like a dark cloak just made her cough spasmodically. It only lasted a few seconds but it felt like an eternity for her.

As soon as the grey fog around her thined out she broke away from Crowley and bend over.

With a strangled sound she emptied her stomach behind the closest bush.

Crowley stepped up behind her and reluctantly laid a hand upon her still tremoring back. Donna could tell that he wasn't used to comforting people like this by his uncertain way of rubbing her shoulders while she had to hold back her hair by herself.

She heaved once again but nothing more came out and she tried to calm herself by closing her eyes and getting control over her breathing that still came in pants.

As her head stopped spinning at last she spit out once more before she stood up and sweeped the back off her hand across her mouth. The vomit had left a stinging taste in her mouth that still had her stomach churning when she concentrated on it to much.

"Don't worry, it happens", Crowley affirmed her, making her look up into his constricted face.

"It's the stress."

Donnas body quivered and she took a deep breath through her nose before she released all of her rage in a punch against his arm as hard as her weakend body could muster.

"Ouch!", he screamed as he rubbed his shoulder, more out of perplexion then real pain.

"What was that for?!"

"That was for making me sick with your unjustifiable way of traveling!", she yelled at him. "If you show the same attitude when you're driving, I'd bet you died in a car accident!"

Crowley just rolled is eyes at that and crossed his arms over his chest.

"If you're done here, we could finally go inside."

At his words she glanced around their surroundings at last and looked up at the small lodge they were standing infront of.

It was a sequestered cottage circled by a huge conifer forest. The smell of pine hung thick in the air and even covered up the stench of puke. Complete silence lay over the place, only disturbed by a bird singing in the distance. The lodge looked as if it hasn't been occupied in a long time. The windows had a layer of dust on them and branches and leaves were covering the front porch.

Crowley walked up the steps as he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out an immense great bunch of keys.

"I haven't been here in a while", he explained for her as he tried to find the right key to fit in the lock.

"This isn't one of my most secrets retreats. Thought some demons could come by looking for me after I told the Winchesters to shot Lucifer, but at the moment they should be way to enganged in dancing the happy dance now that their daddy's back in town."

Eventually he unlocked the door and holded it open for Donna to enter.

Hesitantly she went inside, her steps becoming more certain as her eyes adjusted to the sudden gloominess. Crowley followed close behind her and they both froze as they saw the interior of the lodge.

"Seems like I was right", he stated as he looked around the devastated room.

Furniture was knocked over, shelves were whipped off, their contents scattered over the ground, some cushions were ripped apart and their feathers danced lazily through the air.

Crowley went further inside, swiftly moving between the chaos and observing the damage.

Two fingers grazing along the desk close to the emptied shelves, he came up with some yellow substance. He hold his fingertips up to his nose and sniffed.

"Yep, demons."

Donna stepped closer and took hold of his hand to observe the pasty substance, then smelled it the same way Crowley just did. The acrid smell of sulfur hit her nostrils and she jerked her head back and cringed her nose.

It was nothing like Crowleys pleasent scent that reminded her of a match being lighted, it was much sharper with a hint of rotten eggs in it.

For a short moment she thought she'd get sick again but got control over herself with some deep breaths.

Not remarking on her discomfort, Crowley bent down and pulled an old looking book out of a pile of his shattered belongings.

"Those philistines!", he muttered angrily.

"What is it?" Donna leaned over and he handed her the tattered book.

Reading the worn leather binding she realized that it was an original copy of Shakespeares third folio.

"Nearly as old as I am", he told her as she thumbed through the yellow pages, the smell of old paper overwhelming her.

"Already got it when I was still human. It was dirt cheap, Shakespeare wasn't really popular back then."

"How old are you again?", she asked him baffled.

Instead of answering her he gave her a conspiring grin and went through a passage to their right that seemed to lead to the kitchen.

Donna layied the book carefuly to the side and scanned the room for other items that could give her more hints about Crowleys past, as the large windows facing the back of the lodge caught her eyes.

Enamoured by the sight she crossed the room and stepped outside onto the terrace. She leaned against the railing and looked down the hill where a huge lake lay still between snow covered mountains. The water was so calm and clear that the surfaces looked like an oversized mirror reflecting the sky above.

She was so blown away by the view that she couldn't help herself but to cry out loud.

As Crowley heard Donna's ringing laughter he followed her outside.

"I take it you like it here", he chuckled as he stood next to her and offered her a glass of water to rinse her mouth.

"Like it? I love it!", she declared as she leaned closer to him. This is amazing! That's the kind of place I was thinking about when decided to travel the world.

Crowley felt proud as he saw the overwhelmed grin on her face and her eyes shining with pure happiness.

"Well then I'm glad I chose this place for-"

Before he could take it back the sentence hang in the air between them, accompanied by a silent 'for our last day on earth'.

Donna's smile faltered and she let her glance wander back to the glistening water.

Crowley leaned agains the railing next to her, trying to think of something encouraging to say, but before he could speak up a loud yawn from Danna disrupted him.

With a vaguely smile he watched from the side how she fought to keep her eyes open.

"You need some rest", he said eventually.

"No." She let her head drop onto her crossed arms then looked back up to him. "I couldn't sleep now anyway."

"It was a hard day, you just survived an earthquake. I bet you'll sleep like an overstrained puppy."

She smirked at him, then rinsed her mouth with the water he had given to her.

"Come on, you can take a nap while I organize us something for dinner. What would you like?"

Donna dwelled on that for a moment, thinking about all the things she ever craved during her ever present try at a diet. It was the end of the world after all, why not enjoy herself a little

"Pizza quattro formaggi!", she bursted out with a fake italian accent. "With a cheese crust and double cheese on the toppings."

"There already are four kinds of cheese in quattro fromaggi", he informed her slightly perplexed.

"I know."

She gave him a challenging look that dared him to question her choice of food.

"Well then", he surrendered as he took the empty glass out of her hand. "You get some rest, I'll get the food."

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Donna woke up to the clatter of dishes. Crowley was probably setting up the table for dinner but she was reluctant to leave the bed.

Before he had gone to get something to eat he had helped her to change the dusted sheets and now she was enjoying the unique comfort of a fresh made bed. Still she resigned insantly as the smell of fresh Pizza hit her nose and made her stomach rumble.

She got dressed and after a look in the mirror, trying to readjust her dishevelled hair, she went into the main room.

The room still was a mess except for the sitting area. Crowley had whipped the clobber from the sofa into the next corner and the small table infront of it was clean and casted with plates and pizza boxes.

Through the window Donna could see the sun standing low over the snow-covered summits, the mountains throwing large shadows over the scenery.

A soft plop came from the kitchen and a moment later Crowley came through the door with an open bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other.

"Ah, sleeping beauty awakened", he said as he set down the glasses with a gentle clink.

"Doesn't take a prince to wake me", she quiped. "Just the smell of pizza."

They sat on the sofa and started eating, Crowley wrinkling his forhead as Donna took her first bite out of the artery blockading pizza and let out a long drawn moan. Her taste buds exploded as she chewed on the melted cheese and she asked herself why she ever thought any diet would be worth quiting on this deliciousness.

The red wine ran smoothly down their throats and soon had their tounges loosened.

Donna was surprised to hear that Crowley was actualy from Scotland and told some anecdotes about her hometown as well, about her excentrical grandfather in particular.

Crowley would have been even more curious about her life with the infamous Doctor but he knew that he could never ask her about that part of her life, not without blowing up her harddrive.

"I've gotta ask", Donna began as the pizza boxes had been emptied and they both were lounging more comfortable on the couch.

With her legs drawn beneath her and one arm jovialy lying on the backrest she faced Crowley.

"Why would the King of the crossroads spend his last night on earth with a girl he'd just meet a month prior? A temp from Chiswick. Aren't there any demon friends you could have some kind of satanic orgie with or something? What about those guys you tried to kill Lucifer with?"

"The problem with demons is you can't trust 'em", he answered without a second thought.

"And the Winchesters, they don't trust me neither."

"You're telling me I should'nt trust you?"

"No, I'm absolutely trustworthy!", he cried out resentfull.

"But I still don't know why I'm here. You could sacrifice me in a dark ritual any moment. He sneered as she rattled on. I mean, come on! A lonely cabin in the woods? Perfect scenery for a murder."

He scrutinized her from a moment while he thought about what to say to that question. Having the answer laid out in his head he leaned closer.

"You're here because I wanted the company of someone intelligent and delightfull and it's quite hard to find that in hell. If you do it's mostly a mass murderer with delusions of grandeur who keeps talking about his genocide back in the good old days."

"You're saying you find Hitler funny?", she asked with a slightly disgusted edge to her voice.

"No, that one's aggrieving, but Stalin knows some good jokes."

"Yeah, I can see you share stories over your after-work beer."

"Actually we were playing poker and Machado brought some cigars."

"Stop making fun of me!" She hit him lightly on his chest.

"I am not!", he assured her grinning. "They were my clients, it was some kind of business meeting."

"Ah, yes, your business!", she said with a knowing nod of her head as Crowley emptied his glass with one big gulp and then leaned over to place it on the table.

Donna had long before stopped drinking, enjoying the soft buzz in her head, but Crowley seemed to be unfazed by the alcohol.

"How exactly did you end up in that industry?"

"I just got drawn in after selling my soul to a crossroad demon", he stated indifferently.

"You did not!", she exclaimed flabbergasted, her mouth opened wide in an O-shape.

"What did you sell it for?", she probed as she shifted closer.

Crowley lowered his voice conspirationaly and a wicked grin spread on his face.

"Three inches."

Donna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion until a second later understanding dawned on her face. She laughed out loud, her white teeth standing in contrast to her by the wine reddened lips.

"Why didn't you just buy a Porsche like every other man in that situation? Or in your days an imposing horse, I suppose."

Crowley shook his head snickering. Donna layied her hand on his arm and squinted her eyes.

"Seriously, why did you sell your soul?"

"You don't believe that I did for my manhood?"

"Come on", she said rolling her eyes. "I know you're an idiot but I don't think you'd be that stupid."

Crowley huffed before a gentle smile smoothened his features. Mesmerized by the warm glint in his eyes, Donna didn't notice his hand sneaking around her neck and was a little startled when he suddenly pulled her into a soft kiss.

After a long outdrawn moment she pulled back and opened her eyes, wondering shortly when she had closed them.

She could hear her heart hammer in her chest and the blood throbing through her veins. Smiling to herself, she looked up at him and squinted her eyes.

"You're changing the topic now, I can see right through you."

"Oh, I didn't reckon you'd rather talk", he said as he leaned back with raised eyebrows.

"Well, do you know that X-Files episode whit the genie? There's this scene where Mulder interrogates her-"

"Oh, shut up!", she breathed as she took hold of his suit lapels and pulled him into another kiss, this one more urgent then the first.

Crowley kneaded his fingers in her soft hair and pulled her even closer.

Through the layers of his suit she could feel his heart racing and it made her more confident to know that he was as nervous as she was.

She let her hands wander until they rested around his neck and deepened the kiss. He let out a surprised moan before he responded to her demanding tounge. The slide of his tounge across hers felt warm and soft, and she was a slightly disappointed as he pulled back to leave kisses along her collarbone.

The feeling vanished fast as his teeth grazed across her skin, tickling her somewhat. As he reached her neck he stared to suck and bite in earnest and Donna threw her head back in pleasure, making more room for him until suddenly her eyes opened wide in comprehension.

"Would you mind?", she asked out of breath as she cautiously tapped his back.

He stopped the sucking just to burry his face into her shoulder and take a deep breath. He could have burried himself in that sweet scent of vanilla and peaches.

"What?" His voice was husky and even lower as usual.

"I'd prefer not to look like an exploited promdate tomorrow morning."

Crowley leaned back and looked at her with a frown upon his face.

"I hate to break it to you, sunshine, but it's the Apocalypse, there probably is no tomorrow morning."

"The more so! I can't step infront of my maker with a bunch of hikeys", she insisted, not wanting to drop her stance, not even while facing the end of the world.

Crowley rolled his eyes but as he looked back at Donna a mischievious grin had plastered across his face. He let his hands, that where still burried in her ginger hair, drop down to her blouse and started unbuttoning it with skilfull fingers.

The air felt cool to her exposed flesh and she could feel the tingle of forming goosebumps on her skin. A puff of air escaped her lungs as he leaned down and continuied his sweet assault on her body.

"Better", she huffed out between gasps. "So. Much. Better."

She leaned back on the sofa with her arms around Crowley, taking him down with her. He sattled between her legs, not once stopping to kiss and nip at her breasts.

Getting impatient, Donna pulled at his jacket. Being taken off guard, he lost his balance and only his quick reflexes safed him from falling to the floor, as he stadied himself against the coffeetable.

Donna looked at him sheepishly as he turned back to her.

"I think we should continue this somewhere else."

"Finally one thing we agree on."

He got up and reached his hand out for her to take. With a smile she accepted it and let herself be pulled from the sofa. His palms felt rough as she enterwined their fingers.

Not letting go of her hand, he lead her along into the bedroom, while their shoulders bumped against each other.

They stopped infront of the bed, Crowley turning towards her and taking her face into his hands. He pulled her into a gentle kiss that had her eyes flutter close.

It soon turned into something more keenly, while his hands trailed down her neck and pushed her blouse off her shoulders. It fell with a soft thud to the ground, swiftly followed by her bra and his suit jacket.

Donna's fingers grazed along the soft fabric of his shirt, unbuttoning it as he waved her hands away and pushed her down onto the bed.

Irritated she looked up at him but her incredulity vanished the moment Crowley leaned down and licked across one of her nipples before tacking the rosen bud into his mouth.

Donna moaned appreciatively as his hands and mouth caressed her skin and marked her body. The change between his tender strokes and stinning bites were a delicious torture for her.

His fingertips grazed down her sides, leaving a trail of burning hot skin behind. He reached her jeans and with one smooth movement he had them unzipped.

He dropped on more kiss to her belly button before he stood up and pulled her jeans with him.

Donna couldn't help the lighthearted giggle as Crowley lifted first one foot and then the other to remove her socks.

Keeping hold of her leg, he kissed the tip of her big toe and then moved on to her ankle. He kissed a trail along the inside of her leg, sometimes scraping his scruff across the sensitive skin and tingling her on purpose.

Her soft pants resounded in the quiet room. Donna purred and fisted the sheets in anticipation as he came closer to her middle.

A loud whine from a corner of the bedroom suddenly startled her and she nearly clenched Crowley's head between her legs as she jumped up.

Chuckling he pushed her back on the matress and crawled on top of her while her eyes remained to gaze into the direction of that strange sound.

"Relax", he muttered as he grazed his nose along her blushed cheek. "It's just the hound."

"Your dog is watching us?", she asked with a high-pitched voice and her body turning even more rigid then before.

Crowley let his head drop to her shoulder.

"Do you want him to leave?", he mumbled against her skin.

"No, I want him to join us!", she answered, the words dripping with sarcasm.

He pulled back to look into her eyes and raise a smug eyebrow at her, that earned him an immidiate slap on the back of his head.

With an exaggerated sigh he turned towards the hell hound. He gave a sharp whistle and a nod of his head and then Donna could hear the sound of claws scratching across the floor, followed by the squeak of the door being pushed open.

"Satisfied?"

"Not yet", she whispered and gave him a roguish wink as she started to unbutton his shirt.

Soon enough the last piece of clothes droped to the floor and they both moaned in unision.

Crowley had set a slow rythm that had Donna arching her back, silently begging for more, while their mouths were occupied kissing each other until their lungs were out of air and their heads started spinning.

The room reeked of sex and sweat, and was filled with their combined moaning.

Donna let out a gasp and threw her head back as Crowley found that special spot inside of her. With a smug grin he started to aim for it with his agonizing slow rythm that drove her crazy and had her clenching her nails into his back.

She tried to take a few deep breaths as one of his hands ran down her legs and lifted it around his hips.

An ounce of air reached her brain and cleared the fog of lust and pleasure that had hung over her mind and the thought of being completely handeled striked through her head like a lightning bolt.

Her breaths still coming out in pants she looked up at Crowleys complacent smile and inside grew suddenly the urge to whipe it of his face. She'd be perfectly happy to be owned by this men, she thought. But no one would ever control her.

She buried her fingers in his hair and pulled his head down to kiss him with a new arisen fevour. With him being distracted she took her opportunity to roll them both over.

Pleased with the new position she settled herself down on him and started another rythm that was faster and more demanding then the one Crowley had set.

It didn't take long and they both were panting with pleasure.

Crowley pulled her down into a fervent kiss. Their bodies were pressed together and moving as one, their skin slick with sweat.

He laid his hands on the soft curve of her hips and eargerly helped her moving until waves of ecstasy rocked through their bodies and they both reached their climax.

Donna droped heavily next to Crowley, her whole body limp with exhaustion.

They breathed heavily and both took their time to come down from their high.

"Not bad for your age", was the first thing Donna said as soon as her breath was back to normal.

A soft chuckle shook Crowleys body and he turned over and pulled Donna into his arms. His wiry chesthair felt scratchy against her oversensitiv breasts, but she didn't mind. Even though she probably wouldn't admit it, it felt nice to be held in this way and his warm presence gave her a sense of safety.

"I'm to blissed out to take offense in that", he mumbled and pulled the blanket over them.

He burried his face in her neck and with one last kiss to her throat they fell asleep.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A cool shiver run down Crowleys spine and woke him from his slumber. The bed felt cold and empty and he turned around to find that Donna wasn't there anymore. A knot formed in his vessels heart and Crowley scolded himself to keep himself together.

She surely just had to go to the loo, you know the human needs, you're no friggin angel.

He waited for ten minutes in the darkness and strained his ears as his eyes got used to the gloom. His own breathing was the only sound he could hear and that puzzled him. Not even the hellhound was making any noise by strolling through the cabin.

He got up and pulled the blanket around his shoulder, muttering about how he used to be the one to take off in the middle of the night.

He walked into the main room and took a look around. The wooden floor felt cold to his bare feet.

As he turned to the large windows he could make out a familiar silouette sitting in one of the chairs on the terrace.

His eyes were adjusted enough to find a way through the chaos in the room without stubbing his toe against a table or anything and so he walked silently up to the glass door leading outside.

Close up he could recognize her now more clearly. Donna sat in one of the rattan armchairs, her legs folded underneath herself and the head of the hound resting in her lap. He waged his tail as Donna ruffled behind his ears, lost in thought.

She was wearing nothing but Crowleys shirt, only a few buttons fastened carelesly and the sight made his cock twitch.

But it wasn't the time to think about sex, not when the look on Donna's face was so troubled as she looked up into the stars.

Crowley pressed his palm against the cool glass and the door opened with a soft creak.

Yanked away from her thoughts Donna threw her head around, while the dog kept completely calm.

"Oh, it's you", she huffed as he stepped out into the nightair.

The breeze was freezing and he wondered how she could sit so long in this cold.

Pulling the blanket closer around his shivering body he stepped up to her.

"You know this is a killermaschine", he asked with false accuse as he pointed towards the hound. "And that I only own him to scare people?"

"No wonder he's so eager to cuddle if you don't pat him once in a while."

Her voice carried her usual sarcastic manner, but her face lacked a smile.

With a sigh Crowley set down in the chair next to her.

He observed her profile as she studied the stars again, the tiny lights shining brightly in the natural darkness of the mountain area.

The wrinkle between her brows was alarmingly deep and he wished he had brought something to drink. Conversations like the following were never his favourite and he could use the little bit extra courage.

He cleared his throat loudly to get her attention.

"So, what's bothering you?"

She let out a sigh before she answered and he could see her breasts move with the deep breath.

"I just can't stop thinking about my family. I wonder if they know that this is the end of the world and did something nice for their last night or if they just drank tea, watched some TV and went to bed early. Maybe my grandfather sits outside right now and watches the stars."

Her voice broke at the last words and the tear in the corner of her eye that impended to fall kept him from telling her that the sun has long ago risen in Great Britain.

Instead he leaned over and laid his hand over hers. It already felt ice cold and if he wouldn't know that they're all going to be dead in a few hours he'd be worried about her health.

"You'll see them again", he tried to cheer her up and indeed her lips curved into a weak smile.

"Yeah", she considered. "I just slept with a demon and my mother is going to hell anyway. We'll just met up down there."

Keeping hold of her hand Crowley stood up.

"Come on, let's go inside. It's freezing out here."

Donna let herself being pulled up without complaining and he led her back into the bedroom, the hellhoud following them close by.

They snuggled under the covers and Crowley threw his arm around Donnas waist. The hellhound jumped on the bed with them, but no one told him to back off as he lied down at the end of the bed and covered their feet. Feeling warm and comfy they fell asleep without another thought about what tomorrow might bring.


	6. 6

Donna was woken rudely by a hand with a tight grip shaking her shoulder and a dog barking loudly in the background while Crowley yelled in her ear to get up and look at this. Whatever this was.

She tried to turn around and pull the blanket over her head, but Crowley's grip on the cover was insistend.

"Is this hell?", she mumbled still drowsy as she threw her arm over her face to fight of the blinding morning light that pierced through her eyelids.

The bay of the hound still resounded through the bedroom and it didn't take long until Donna snapped.

"Would you shut up!?", she yelled at the animal as she jumped up into a sitting position and waved her arms in frustration.

The dog left out one last whiny noise before it fell silent.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her chin and Crowley pulled Donnas head around to come face to face with her.

"You're still your loud and annoying self, so it's clearly not heaven!", he stated way to cheerfully for Donnas liking.

She pushed his hand away and was about to lie down again as her brain finally shook of the morning fog and started to work again.

She stared at him, one eyebrow raised up to her hairline and a look of pure bewilderment on her face as she looked between him and the room and took in the perfectly fine bedroom and it's perfectly healthy habitants.

"Wait! Are you saying that-"

"The sea didn't boil and the sky didn't fall? I've gotta go and check out. Could take a moment."

He gave her a quick kiss and left her with an open mouth and many questions in her head sitting on the bed as he walked over to the window and opened it.

"Where are you going? Can't I come-"

But before Donna could complete her question, Crowley had opened his mouth and his whole body suddenly started to spasm as a dark red cloud streamed out of his mouth.

She let out a startled cry and flinched back, but after a seconde the first shock wore off and she jumped off the bed and ran towards him.

The room had darkened as the thick fog flew off through the window and left close to no space for the light to come in. The usualy underlying smell of sulfur that accompanied Crowley everywhere had intesified and was sting sharply in Donna's nose.

She screamed his name but one could hardly hear it over the noise of streaming air.

The fog coming out of Crowley's mouth became thiner until it finally stopped and the cloud flew outside up in the sky and vanished within seconds.

Crowley's body went slack and fell with a worrying bump lifeless to the floor.

Donna launched herself next to him. Anxiously she took his head in her lap and cuffed his cheek softly while she desperately repeated his name over and over again.

She could hear the dog strolling towards them and sitting down next to her. He didn't whine or sniff at Crowley like Donna had expected him to, the way she had seen dogs doing at the TV when their owners got hurt. He seemed very relaxed in general but Donna dismissed that thought very fast. She had better to do then to think about the mental state of the hellhound.

Pressing her ear against his mouth she tried to concentrate on his breathing and she sighed with relief as she heard his swallow breaths.

Her nose scrunched as she noticed that his usual smell had changed into nothing but the scent of his soap and aftershave, the warmth and familiarity of his personal flavour completely gone.

With the thoughts in her head racing, she decided to put him back into bed first and then call 911, even though she wasn't sure if a doctor knew how to tread a demon.

She didn't even know where her cellphone was. Hell, she didn't even know in what land this bloody cabin stood.

All of a sudden the knot in her stomach seemed to twist and grow even tighter than before.

Not letting herself get down by this, she kept hold on her plan and tried to carry Crowley to the bed. She'd find a phone later and somebody at the emergency hotline would know about this cabin and send help up to them.

She took hold of Crowley's torso and tried to pull him up, but her arms were too weak and she only managed to get him into a sitting position. Carefully holding on to his shoulders to not let him fall back to the ground, she walked behind him and put her arms around his chest.

With a deep groan and a lot of effort she heaved him off the ground and pulled him towards the bed, his naked feet dragging across the wooden floor.

After halfway through the room her strength subsided and she had to drop him, his butt connecting with the ground much more forcefully then she had intended to. Her breath came in pants and her back objected as she bend down again but still she tried to focus her powers once more.

Just as she was about to pick him up, the light infront of the window was cutt off again and the roar of the dark fog flowing back inside filled the room.

Donna stumbled frightened backwards and fell to the floor as the cloud rushed towards them, but she didn't let go of Crowley. Frantic, as it started to stream back inside him, she threw her hand over his mouth, but it just kept on getting in between her fingers or through his nose. She was at a complete loss at what to do or what was happening.

Within seconds all of the smoke had vanished back inside of Crowley and the room was bright and quiet again.

Donna was about to take a deep breath before trying to figure out what just happened as Crowley shocked her again by suddenly jumping out off her embrace.

"They did it!", he exclaimed before he turned around and looked her in the eyes. His face was a mixture of pure bliss and disbelief and made him look like a madman.

"Those bad Brokeback Mountain copies did it!"

The grin on his face grew even bigger but was whipped off in an instant as Donna slapped him. Hard.

"What was that for?!", he asked her bewildered.

She shove her index finger right up into his face.

"You scared the hell out of me!", she yelled at him furious.

He flinched back and raised his hands in self-defence.

"I just went out for a quick trip. I'm faster in my true form."

"Your true form?!"

"Yes, my true form. Ginger, you should do your homework before dating a demon. Anyway, there are more important things right now. Didn't you get what I just said? They did it!"

His former excitement came back to him. The anger left Donna's face as she shove her still confused thoughts about Crowley's breakdown to the side and considered his words.

"You mean the Winchesters? They stopped the Apocalypse?"

Crowley nodded once before he pressed a kiss on her mouth and then jumped up onto his feet.

"We've got to celebrate! I think there must be some craig somewhere", he declared chipper as he walked out of the room and towards the kitchen.

Donna slowly got off the ground herself. The cold floor had cooled her naked buttocks and she pulled Crowley's dress shirt further down to cover her freezing bottom.

She followed him into the kitchen and watched with a forming lump in her throat how he rummaged through the cupboards dressed in nothing but his black briefs on his search for something to drink at a proper the-apocalypse-didn't-happen-party.

The sound of doors being opened and closed forcefully rang in her ears as she chewed nervously on her lower lip.

"I want to go home", she blurted out, the feeling of having some kind d j -vu creeping up on her.

Crowley turned around slowley, one eyebrow raised and his hand still on the open door of one of the cupboards.

"I want to see my family, make sure everything is alright", she explained and leaned her head to the side in a pouting manner.

"Okay", he simply said as he closed the door softly and gave her a forced smile.


	7. 7

"Donna!"

Crowley's voice resounded through the ravaged cabin.

"What's taking you so long?"

After a long shower, the two had gotten dressed and after a short discussion they had decided that he would take her to the closest city with an airport from where she could take the next flight to London.

Donna had hesitated to travel with Crowley at all, because she feared that she'd get sick again.

Upon her suggestion to just call a cab, Crowley had given her a judging look and told her in a calm yet decisive voice that no taxi would come up here.

After assuring her that their route wouldn't be too long, Donna finally agreed to travel with him demon style.

But instead of getting out of the mountains, the redhead was stumbling through the whole house, declaring that she had forgotten something everytime Crowley thought they were ready to go.

Dishevelled, she came into the living room, were Crowley had made himslef comfortable, sitting on the loveseat, his feet resting on the small table.

She looked around the room before she came closer and scrutinized the table.

"I can't find my phone, have you seen it?"

With one hand she started to lift the pillows of the sofa and shooed the demon away with the other.

"No", he answered, rolling his eyes irritated as he stood up.

"When was the last time you had it?"

She thought for a moment before she answered, while her hand sank in the gaps between the cushions.

"I had it in my pocket when I was at the airport. I stood in line for the security scan and checked my watch to see how much time was left until - oh no!"

She stopped her actions and locked up at Crowley.

"I must have dropped it as that bloddy bastard knocked me over!"

"But you still have your wallet right? Your ID card, your credit ccard?"

She patted her pockets.

"Yeah, I've got that."

"Well then let's go", he urged her. "I can get you a new phone."

"I can get my own phone", she answered sulky, but the demon just crook a smile and reached out his hand. She took it wothout hesitation.

"Ready?"

Her face kept the surley look, but she nodded and the next moment they were gone.

The moment the pressure on Donna's body ceased she took a deep breath of fresh air, then she let her eyes wander over their surroundings and her mouth dropped.

They stood on the verge of a large field of yellow gras swaying in the wind. Around them were still the giant mountain ridge, but instead of the mirror-like lake, a narrow runway lay between them, with a abandoned looking small plane by it's side. In the distance Donna could make out a little village.

"Just great!", she shouted out, slapping Crowley's arm lightly.

"You brought us to the middle of nowhere."

"Stop it! You wanted to get to the closest airport, now don't complain. And by the way this is not 'nowhere', I know people around here." He started walking towards a small building that seemed to be the airport's control tower and Donna followed him with a pout.

He climbed the stairs that led to the entrance and knocked forcefully before he went inside without waiting for an answer.

It was chaotic inside. Empty pizza boxes and beer cans were sscattered around the room and left an unpleasent smell in the air. Piles of paper were thrown careles over a small work desk. An ancient TV stood next to the mess and the snowy picture made it hard to guess what show was running. Infront of it sat two wiry looking men, fully concentrating on the old tv set instead of the monitors of their work equipment.

They turned their head around towards the door as Crowley strutted inside and stood up immidiately, recognition showing in their eyes before they suddenly turned completely black.

Donna clutched Crowley's arm stratled, but he remained calm.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. My lovely companion needs a flight to Fairbanks."

"We'll get the plane ready", one of the demons said dutiful and they both walked past the pair to go outside.

"You can't expect me to fly with those monsters. The last one I met tried to eat me!", Donna growled at Crowley. She was still clinging on his jacket's arm.

"Not true", he answered in his nonchalant way.

"You slept with the last one."

She slapped his shoulder again, a little harder then before, but he stayied unfazed.

"Those aren't any mindless demons, they're working for me. They're used to transport my more precious cargo in this part of the world."

"This part of the world."

"Yeah, I have an international business to run. Well, had. Since the whole debacle with Lucifer I had to cut it down a bit. Most demons weren't happy when they heard about my big fuss against daddy."

"And you trust those, those employees of yours?"

"They probably think you're a gift to a business partner anyway. They know better then to lay a hand on that."

Donna wasn't fully convinced, but she still followed him outside.

The two demons had pushed the small airplane onto the runway and were now checking the mechanics.

The cockpit was only big enough for two people and those were the only seats on board. The cargo area wasn't much more roomy.

One of the men climbed inside and after a short moment the eninge started with a suspicious roar.

The british woman threw another nervous look towards her friend.

"Relax!", he said. "Fairbanks isn't that far and these guys know what they're doing."

"I can't believe you deported me to Alaska", she answered with a hint of resign in her voice.

"What are you going to do now? Will you rebuild your imperium of crossroad deals now that Lucifer isn't anymore?"

"Perhaps. Maybe I'll even expand."

"Yeah, why don't you just take over the world?", she bantered at him with grand gestures.

"Not the whole world", he told her with a roguish smile. "Hell would be enough."

She stared at him in disbelief before she found her speach again.

"Your kidding right?"

His grin only grew wider.

"Tell me you're kidding!"

"I've been thinking", he started to explain with his hands deep in his pockets. "Demons have been shifting for themself a very long time, some more organized then the others, but all of them actually waiting for someone who'd take over the wheel. Why shouldn't that someone be me?"

She stared at him with big eyes until her bewildered expression faded into one of admiration and affection. A small smile grazed her face as she took his into his hands and shook her head softly.

"You. Are. Bonkers!", she whispered and then shoved him away with a grin. Crowley stumbled two steps backwards chuckling.

"But you know what? I think if anyone could pull this off, then it's you." She looked up at him, her face more serious than before. "Just promise me you'll take care of yourself."

The crossroad demon stretched out his arms, the palms of his hands facing towards the clear blue sky.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine."

"That's what you said the last time and then we met again in a hospital, you telling me it was the apocalypse."

"But I was okay and the world didn't end after all, so basically I was right."

Donna rolled her eyes dramatically, but the surpressed grin on her lips told Crowley that she wasn't really annoyed.

Their eyes remained on each other, so they didn't see the pilot inside the cockpit giving the other man a thumps up. The flight controller jogged over to the waiting pair.

"Sir, the plane is ready for take off."

"In a minute, boy."

Crowley looked at Donna ruefully.

"This new project could take a while, I'll be working a lot the next months."

"Yeah, I-I understand that. I'll be in Chiswick and you'll be in, well, in hell. Could take some time until we met again. Just make sure that we'll met again, okay?"

She gave him a tightlipped smile.

"Well then, I'll see you next time, demon-boy."

She turned around and walked towards the airplane as Crowley loudly barked out her name. Looking back, she saw him coming up to her, a piece of paper in his hand.

"My card", he explained as he held it out towards her. "My number's on the back. Call me if something happens."

"I'll do", she said with a high voice that rang in her own ears. Abashed she took the card and scrutinized it more than actually necessary. She raised an eyebrow at the front print, which simply displayed the words 'King of the crossroads'.

"How modest", she teased, holding it up.

"Yeah, I know. I'll soon need new business cards, but everything in time."

She pocketed the card and with a last wink at Crowley, climbed into the plane.

Inside the cramped cockpit she looked through the small window and saw the demon still standing at the side of the runway. He raised one arm as a goodbye and Donna waved back as the plane started taking off and smoothly went up in the air, until Crowley was only a small black point on the grey field.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Groaning under the weight, Donna heaved her bags out of the cab's trunk. With all her baggage on the sidewalk, she leaned down to the driver's window, her face red from the struggle and her anger.

"Thank's for the help, mate!", she yelled, but the cabbie didn't listen to her and drove off with squealing tires instead.

Fuming she put up her bags and went inside the house.

She threw er stuff on the hallway's floor. All she wanted to do after the long flight back home, was take a long and relaxing bath and the launch infront of the tv and watch mindless reality-shows.

"Surprise", she yelled halfheartly as she bolted into the living room. "I'm back home!"

Taken aback she froze in her tracks.

The room she just walked in was crowded. Family, neighbours and even some friends from her grandpa's old military unit were gathered in the small space.

Everyone fell silent the moment Donna stepped inside, and stared at her.

Donna stared back bewildered. After a few seconds in which she could swear one could hear crickets' clittter, she found her ability to speak again.

"Did Crowley tell you I'd come back today?"

Her question was answered with more silence.

Suddenly her mother came out behind her aunt and her fat cousin Michael. Her eyes were red and teartracks ran down her cheeks.

She launched herself at her daughter and threw her arms around her. Donna could feel her hot tears wet against her face.

"What's wrong? What happened?", she asked concerned as she patted Sylfia's back.

"Father, your grandpa, he's dead."

The last words were lost in a moarnfull sob and fresh tears spilled from the woman's eyes. Donna stared at her in shock, her whole body suddenly feeling numb. She didn't hear her mother's voice talking further, as she looked up at the all black wearing people and finally saw the gathering as what it was.

A funeral.

"He was in the city when the earthquake started. Wanted to get new bullets for his stupid paintball weapon. The building collapsed."

The pressure behind her eyelids rose as the first tears started to dwell in Donna's eyes and a knot formed in her throat. Her skin pricled as she felt all the guests' eyes on her, giving her pitifull looks.

"We tried to call you, but you wouldn't answer your bloody phone!"

Was that anger in her mother's voice? Donna couldn't care less in that situation. The ache in her heart became unbearable and she clutched her chest as it became harder for her to breath. The grief suddenly hit her and left her whole body shivering as if a cold wind had just blown past her.

With the last control she could muster up, she turned around and fleed into the bathroom, while Sylfia called after her and a murmur started to rise behind her and had her walking even faster out of the room.

She slammed the bathroom door shut and turned the key to make sure she was left alone. She couldn't deal with anyone right now.

Stumbling to the bathtub she sat down on it's rim and let her head drop into her hands. That was the moment she let herself go.

A painfull cry wrenched it's way out of her throat and her shoulders shook with the force of each new sob.

Time was lost to Donna as she sat on the edge of the bathtub and let herself swamp by the pain of the sudden loss, but as she finally emerged the bathroom, the house was quite and the congregation of mourners had left.

She sniffed her nose as she walked into the hallway. The pain was still there and the tears hadn't stopped flowing yet, but she felt calm enough to be more in control over her ragging emotions.

Light fell from the living room into the hallway and as Donna went inside, she saw that the TV was tunelessly showing some commercials, while her mother lay on the sofa asleep.

Donna stepped closer to the older woman and took the comforter from the sofa's backrest to lay it across the sleeping figure. Then she took the remote to turn off the TV. It would be the best to let her mother sleep, she thought. She knew about Wilfred's death much longer then Donna did and probably had not gotten much sleep since then.

As she quietly sneaked out of the room, she grabbed the phone and then went into her bedroom, closing the door behind herself.

Someone had already brought all her bags into her room and Donna took her purse from the floor next to her luggage.

After some rumaging through the many pockets, she finally found the card she had searched for.

She hadn't called Crowley since the two had departed in Alaska, she didn't want to come along as the desperate old single who's too eager to get a man into her claws, but right now she needed to talk to him, needed to feel the irrational calm that overwhelmed her whenever she heard his voice.

With slighlty shaking hands, she tipped his number into the phone and listened to the call signal, as at last the demons voice sounded through the device.

Donna took a deep breath, readying herself to say something, until she realized that it was just his mail box.

"The King of the crossroads is busy taking over Hell. Please contact one of my assistents for a demon deal."

The common peep sound ringed in Donna's ear and she ended the call without leaving a message.

Instead she just tried it again, hoping that Crowley just wasn't fast enough to answer the phone.

As the mail box answered again, she threw the phone furiously on the bed. It rebounced and fell clattering to the floor.

She wished there was anyone she could talk to, someone who understood how it felt to loose the only person you always thought would understand you. Someone who knew how it felt when a person you started to trust suddenly left you alone in your misery.

A sudden feeling of being completely alone hit her in the gut and she had to sit down on the bed, as the sobbs claimed her body again and shook her whole being. She cried the whole night and damned the world and it's unfairness and all the bloddy people who lived in it, until the first morning light fell through the curtains and she had finally fallen asleep.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Crowley felt his buzzing phone in his dress pant's backpocket, but he didn't answer. Whoever called would have to wait until he was done here. Maybe even longer.

The demon didn't have a free minute since he had started to work on his new project "Conquest Hell". He had a lot of people to contact, sort out who would be of assistant for him and who could hinder him in his plan. There where a lot of debts to collect now and he needed to cut off any weak point. The last one was his momentary task.

A knock was heard fron the door of his bureau, a small field office in Las Vegas. A lot of deals were made in the city where a poor man could become a billionaire in a heartbeat, but one could loose all of his property just as fast.

"Come in", he told the visitor in his most cheaper voice. "Ah, Lydia. Reliable as ever."

The blonde demon came inside and stopped infront of the big wooden desk that Crowley sat behind.

"You wanted to speak to me, sir?"

"Yes, my dear. Now this is a very important matter and I'm glad you could come this fast."

As he talked, he stood up and walked past the desk to stand close infront of his assistant.

"I was very pleased with your work in the case of Donna Noble."

"I'm sorry that she didn't sell her soul yet", the woman interjected.

"Don't worry about it, that deal's my problem now. It's more important to me to know who you told about Miss Nobles circumstances."

"No one."

"Really? Not even Belphegor?"

"You asked me to tell no one and I didn't."

"You've always been my most loyal worker and the greatest help I could have."

A smile spread across his face that didn't reach his eyes.

He turned back to the desktop, where some letters lay next to a shiny paper knife.

"That makes it all the more tragic."

With one swift motion he had grabbed the letter opener and turned arround to slam it into her body.

Large eyes stared down onto his hands as Lydia realised what just happened. Hastily she threw her head back and opened her mouth wide. She tried to flee from her injured vessel's body in a red cloud, but Crowley pushed the fog back into the mouth and kept it closed with one hand, as the other pulled the sharp knife out of her body and slashed it through her windpipe.

Her eyes lightened up in a piercing red for the last time, before the demon dropped to the ground.

"Sorry, Lydia", he said to the lifeless pile on the ground as he cleaned the bloody blade on a tissue. "But we can't risk anyone else finding out about my little weak spot."

He laid the now again shiny paper knife back on the desktop and left the room through the same door through which just mere minutes before Lydia walked inside.

One of his demons stood guard outside and he approached him.

"Get rid of the mess in there."

The black eyed demon nooded dutifully and before he even stepped into the room, his boss had allready vanished to his next appointment.

Yes, there were a lot of things to do until he could finally take a claim on hell and one important point was just taken care off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> english isn't my first language and I don't have a beta, so I'm sorry for any errors


	8. 8

Donna took a deep breath and counted slowly to ten.

She sat on the kitchen table and tried to drink her tea in peace but her mother wouldn't stop pacing behind her and chewing her ear off about how she shouldn't stay in the house all day and that some socialising would be good for her. But the redhead didn't want to go out, especially not with her mother and her bridge club. It was much more tempting to stay at home and mope over life.

It was true that Donna had spend the last weeks at home doing nothing but pittying herself, but it wasn't anyones place to tell her to go and take a shower or get dressed properly instead of wearing the same sweatpants and shirt for the third day in a row. She felt comfortable in the grimy clothes and wore them like a protective layer, not daring to shed them.

The universe seemed to take mercy on her for once as the doorbell rang and her mother finally stopped her constant babble to open it.

She let out a stream of air as she was finally alone in the room and sipped her tea.

Voices streamed from the hall into the kitchen and Donna let a weak smile grace her face as she could hear her mother telling some poor door-to-door salesman in her unique way that he should get lost.

"Donna!"

The familiarity in which her name was shouted had her jump of her chair immediately.

"Tell your mother to back off or I'll stab her!"

Within seconds Donna was at the door. Her mother was blocking the way, standing in full height with her hands on her hips.

"Who do you think you are? I'm not gonna take a threat in my own house!"

Behind the furious woman Donna could see Crowley, his face a deep shade of red as he unsuccesfully tried to suppress his anger.

"Didn't you want to meet your bridge club?", Donna told her mother firmly.

The older woman glared at her daughter angrily for moment, then grabbed her keyes off the key rack.

"Great, don't tell me. That old witch doesn't need to know anything! I'm not gona disturb you and your unknown visitor any longer."

"Just go!", Donna screamed s she lost her self-control.

With a huff Sylfia pushed past the strange man and got into her car.

"The Noble-women really are something", he said with a snarl as he watched her drove off.

"Something really special", he added chalant as he looked back at the challenging expression at Donna's face.

"Now, who the hell do you think you are?!", she asked him furiously and Crowley was taken aback by the woman's rage.

"I called you over and over again and you never answered your damn phone!"

The blank astonishment that had him stare at her stupidly, finally lifted off as he tried to defend himself.

"I told you I'd be busy for a while."

"You told me to call you. I left you hundreds of messages and you couldn't even take a minute to leave me a note that you're ok and that we're ok and - did your TV broke or do you just like to peep on people's private lives?"

Crowley looked back over his shoulder to follow Donna's view right in time to see an old lady with the ugliest tiny dog he ever saw hurry further down the road, while she threw some disgruntled glances towards the pair.

Before he could yell after her she should walk faster because the reaper's close on her heels, Donna had grabbed him by his arm and pulled him inside. With a loud bang she shut the door and then aimed her anger back at him.

"I hear nothing from you for weeks and now you just swan in here. Is there actually a moment in your life you don't just think about yourself?"

"Listen, angry bird, you knew about my current engagement. What, did you believe one could conquer hell in one day?", Crowley spat back.

He already had enough of Donna's sudden accusations and he sure as hell wasn't here to fight with her, but he wouldn't just stand there and take her bitching either. His fists balled at his sides as she walked close up to him, her red face just mere millimeters away from his.

"Every time we met, you just swagger off and leave me behind, wondering when you come back, if you come back. I'm bloody sick of it! You can take your bloody number and shove it up your arse, no ones answering that bloody phone anyway."

To loaded for bear to look at him any longer, she turned around and stalked off into the living room.

"But I came back and I'm really starting to regret it", Crowley retored as he followed her.

"You think I enjoied my time down there? That I had a little vacation? I was fighting over hell! I was on a killing spree from here to Norway and a cesspool full of wanna-be dictators tried to kill me because they think that I'm not the right demon to run the show. And when I want just a moment of peace and quiet, just a few hours to relax with a person whom I trust, I come here and get snapped at because between my conspiracies with people who'd stab me in the back if they'd just have the opportunity and being nearly assassinated by my rivals I didn't answer the goddamn phone!"

He stopped his shouted ranting to take a gulp of air and realized that he was panting. Donna turned around in a fury and one look at her showed him that she was in the same state. She was breathing heavy, her breasts rising and falling with every gulb of air. Her cheeks were reddened in a vivid colour and her whole body glowed with anger-fueled energy.

"Oh, I'm sorry that in a moment of distress you don't get the comfort you seeked." She let out a huff. "Welcome to my world!"

Crowley's whole body shook with the rage that pulsed through him. His fingers itched to just grab the irritating woman, to get a good hold on her throat and squeeze out all the accusations until only the coy and charismatic person he had took a liking to was left. His body was on auto-pilot as he closed the distance between them. In the back of his head he could hear the small voice he had thought he'd turned off years ago, admonishing him not to hurt her.

Close up he could see her hardened eyes glistening with unshed tears. They widened in shock and a surprised gasp left her mouth as the demon's hand shot forward to take a hold on her neck and in a swift motion pulled her towards his lips.

Donna was frozen in place until her brain finally caught up with the man's actions. From then on the kiss was all tongue and teeth. As they finally parted to grant their burning lungs some air, they still stayed close together, their noses touching and their breaths mingling.

"Oh, I hate you", she grumbled before she latched on to his jacket's lapels and brought their mouths back together.

Her teeth grazed his lower lip and in a streak of aggression she bit down. Startled by the sudden pain, Crowley was about to pull away, but paused as he felt his partner's warm tongue reach out and soothing the sharp sting with gentle strokes. Spurned on by her harsh approach, he sucked on her tongue and let his hands drop to her shoulders, to shove her against the neirest wall.

He grinned complacent as her back hit the wall a little harder than necessary and had the air break out of her lungs in a low huff.

He pressed his body against hers as the continued their kissing feverishly and she could fell his already fully hardened erection rub against her thigh. She pushed back to increase the pressure and was regarded with a deep mewl.

"Off!", she demanded breathlessly, as she pushed Crowleys jacket down his shoulders.

His hands left her body long enough to get rid of the garment and were back immediately to caress her glorious breasts before it even hit the ground.

He traced his lips down her throat, while she eagerly tugged at his tie to loosen it. As it was finally off, she let it drop to the floor unceremoniously and started right off to undo the buttons of his shirt.

Loosening those was a much more challenging task, for her fingers stiffened and her hands clinged to the fabric every time Crowley nipped at the senstiv skin at her neck.

Impatiently she yanked the last bit apart, sending a few buttons flying to the side and falling with a soft sound to the ground.

She let her hands wander over the newly exposed skin, before she gave Crowley a firm shove and extended her space between him and the wall.

He blinked at her in confusion, perplexed at the sudden rejection, but she just gave him a superior smirk and winked at him, then pulled her sweatshirt over her head.

Crowley gulped as he realized that she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Stripped to the waist she stood infront of him, provoking and determined, and it hit him in that moment that this is how the most important woman of the universe looks like. Facing her opponents with strong self-confidence even when all her guards are down.

And right now her challenging glare was focused on him.

It was the greatest boost to his ego since he became king of the crossroad demons and he wanted to prove to her, and more importantly himself, that he was worth the attention.

He trapped her again between the wall and himself, pressing their naked upper bodies together.

His tongue pressed past her lips and gave her the sweet distractive feeling of soft caressing, as he slipped one hand underneath ther waist band of her sweat pants.

Donna moaned into his mouth at the first stroke. She was torn between the sensations, the cold concrete wall against her back and the hot body pressed against her front. The wiry hair upon his chest tickled her sensitiv nipples and the buds hardened at the mixed feeling of soft and scratchy.

She let her head fall to his shoulder as her body shuddered under his caressing, but even as he slid two fingers inside of her, her adrenaline filled veins screamed at her to demand more more. She had waited long enough to feel his skin against her own again, and if she was honest, the deppendence potention scarred her a little after just one shared night, just to be teased right now.

"If you don't hurry up, I swear I'm gonna throw a fist", she mumbled into his shoulder.

Her breath hitched as he let his thumb press against her clit in rythm to his hand's movements.

"Would you stop bossing me arround", he replied through gritted teeth before his lips lashed back at her skin.

"Crowley!" She stretched his name, suggesting an underlined warning, and the hands around his arms increased the strength of their grip.

In one swift motion he had his hand out of her pants and pushed them down her hips. She stepped out of them and he took hold of her tights. In a sudden move, he pulled them up around his hips, while he took a step forward to support her weight against the wall.

Donna shrieked out in surprise as she was lifted without a warning and her back was once again forcefully pushed back against the wall.

It would be black and blue tomorrow, but right at the moment she couldn't care less.

Crolwley had his lips pressed to her ear, kissing the shell.

"You are infuriating", he growled and she had to suppress a groan at the gravel sound of his voice.

She guided one hand from his back down his front until she reached his waistband and loosened the button skillfully with one hand. It was a bit more difficult for her to pull down the zipper between their tightly pressed together hips, but it didn't take long and she had freed Crowley's erection.

She had to keep herself from chuckling at the sight of Crowley's eyes rolling back into hs had as she took hold of his throbbing member and guided him inside of her, but any laugh in her throat was cut off as he starded moving and all sounds she could utter where the little pants every time he pressed into her.

Her hands clinged to his back, her nails digging into the skin as he increased the force of his thrusts. They moaned in unison as she started to roll her hips in rythm with his movements to highten the sweet friction.

Every shove of his hips pushed him deeper inside her and her eyes rolled back in her head of feeling completely filled and owned.

The hot pressure in her lower body started to rise and she knew that she was close. Tangling her fingers into his hair, she pulled his face down to her own and pressed an uncoordinated kiss to his lips.

Her back arched as her orgasm ripped through her body and her muscles spasmed as a wave of pleasure bolted through her limbs like a lightningstrike.

Crowley hissed as the hot flesh around him tightened. It took only a few more out of pace thrusts and he was coming tight after her.

As the blinding relish of his high subsided, he became aware of his aching muscles.

Carefully he slipped out of Donna and let go of her thighs, so that she could stand on her own feet again.

Her body was still trembling, her legs not strong enough to keep her upright, and she let herself glide down the wall until she sat on the ground, breathing heavily.

The cold floor against her naked rear, nearly freezening to her burning skin, had her shivering, but she was to tired to move away.

Crowley slumped down next to her. They sat in silence, trying to calm down their racing hearts, until Donna suddenly started giggling. Crowley raised an eyebrow at her, smiling in amusement.

"What?"

"I'm still wearing my socks", she explained before a new chuckle rose in her throat as she pointed at her feet.

Rolling his eyes, Crowley straightened his dresspants and pulled up the zipper.

"I need a shower", Donna said conversational as she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"I figured", her lover answered non-chalantly. "You could do with a shave, too."

To clarify his point he let his hand glide over the pricky stubbles on her leg.

"Oh, don't start again."

She slapped at his hand and he pulled it away, laying his arm around her shoulders instead.

"This wasn't quite what I imagined when I came to alleviate some stress."

"But it helped."

She snuggled against his side, searching for the warmth of his body-heat.

"What kind of stress did you have to alleviate anyway?"

He could feel Donna tense against his side and she took a raged breath before she answered.

"My grandfather died."

"That's all?", Crowley exclaimed with a half laugh.

Heat rose to Donna's cheeks as she angrily set up straight to get out of their embrace.

"Did you listen to what I just said?", she snapped. "My grandfather died! He was my best friend and now he's dead."

"Please", he waved her off. "I'm dead and I don't see you crying over my grave. The lucky bastard is probably in heaven right now, drinking champagne with some busty blonde."

He reached out to Donna and she let herself be pulled back against his chest.

"But if you want me to, I can make some research to make sure that he really isn't in hell."

She looked up into his eyes, her own big, blue ones red and watery.

"You'd do that?"

"Sure. Why not? If it makes you feel better."

"That's the least you could do after not answering my calls."

Despite her harsh words, she leaned up and gave him a sweet kiss.

"Thank you."

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

As Sylfia came home from her bridge club that evening, she found her daughter with the strange man sitting on the kitchentable and chatting over a cup of tea.

She was surprised to see the bloke still in her house, she thought it was just some passing acquaintance that Donna had made on her travels around the world and that she would get rid of him soon enough. Telling the truth, she didn't like him one bit. He had the air of a middle class insurance agent around him and she trusted him as much as she trusted every salesman.

She caught Donna rolling her eyes as she entered the room, yet pretended that she didn't see it.

"Hey, mom. How was bridge?"

"Nathalie, that mendacius witch", she huffed as she droped her purse on the kitchen counter. "She thinks we didn't catch it, but I know she was cheating!"

"Sounds like a lot of fun", Donna deadpaned.

"It was! You should have come with me. A little socializing would have been good for you."

"Nah, we had fun, too."

"I quite believe it."

She could see her grown daughter's ears turn red. So more than just a passing acquaintance.

Her interest roused and she tried to dig deeper. It was all to her big little girl's best, she told herself. She had heard a lot of stories about marriage impostures and since Donna had won the lottery they couldn't be carefull enough with what kind people they surrounded themself. And this guy was just the type of man who'd marry a woman for her money.

"I'm sorry, my daughter has no manners." She faced the aged gigolo with a forced a smile. "We haven't been introduced properly. I'm Sylfia, Donna's mother."

The man rose from his place and stretched out a hand for her to shake it.

"I'm Crowley. I'm-"

"He's from America", Donna interupted him.

Crowley raised an eyebrow at her and she shot him a meaningfull glance back.

"We've met there. He's a book agent from New York", she recited his vessel's backstory.

After the incident back in the cabin, Crowley had explained to here the necessity of a vessel and of course she wanted to know who's body he occupied. He had closed his elaboration with the words "But he isn't here anymore" and she pressumed that this was some beautification for "He's dead".

"How interesting", Sylfia declared without seeming interested at all. "But you don't really sound like an American."

"I'm originally from Scotland."

"You get a lot around?"

"Nah", he shrugs his shoulders. "Only for work, to hell and back. Speaking of, I think it's time for me to go. Business never sleeps."

"I'll show you outside."

Donna rose from her chair and led him to the front door.

Sylfia stretched her neck to see the pair standing in the entrance, talking quietly.

The supposed book agent wore a mischievous grin as Donna leaned forward and stole a quick kiss before she closed the door in his face with a gentle laugh.

She rushed back into the kitchen and busied herself with pouring a cup of tea for herself as her daughter came back, a goofy grin on her face.

"He seems like a nice man", she started her interrogation.

Donna just hummed in agreement and put the used cups in the sink.

"Goodlooking, with a good job. How long do you know him?"

"Get to the point, mom!", Donna snapped and whipped around. "I've seen the look on your face. If you have something to say do it now."

Sylfia paused for a moment at her daughter's sudden outburst, then her thoughts started to tumble out of her mouth like a verbal waterfall.

"Do you know if he's really succesfull in his job? What if he has a bad time or what if he's in debts? He could be one of those greedy persons who stay in touch with some people just for their money."

"Stop it!", the younger woman interrupted her. "I knew you'd have something against him, but you know what? You better get used to him, because he sure as hell will visit more often in the future!"

With stamping feet she rushed out of the kitchen and a moment later Sylfia could hear a door being slammed shut.

She could feel her face heating up and turning red. Without thinking she stormed after her daughter. The ungrateful child would not treat her like that in her own house.

"You think I'm the horrible person her, but actually I am the only one with a bit of responsibility."

She pushed the door to Donna's room open and kept a tight grip on the handle.

"I am the only one who thinks about what's good for you!"

She paused as she studied Donna sitting on her bed.

"Why are you crying now?", she demanded, her voice a tinge softer at the sight of tears.

The redhead whipped a hand over her puffy eyes before she faced her.

"Because you're right. He is greedy. And he's so determinded, he'd stop at nothing. But it's not money that he's after. Believe me, money means nothing to him. He's more interested in power."

She sniffed and plugged at her sleeve. Sylfia had let go of the doorhandle and sat down next to her, keeping a small gap between them.

"And egoistic", she added as an afterthought, a small smile gracing over her tearstained features. "He is so selfish, the whole world could go down the toilet and he wouldn't mind as long as he gets his piece of the cake. You don't know what it does to a woman, when a man who always puts himself first, makes her feel like she is the most important woman in the world."

A noise between a laugh and a sob escaped her throat and embarrassed she whipped the fresh tears away.

Sylfia laid a sympathetic hand on her knee and looked at her with a serious expression.

"He sounds like an asshole", she deadpaned.

"Thank's, mom!"

"And you're a bitch."

Donna glared at her mother aghast, but she just returned her stare with a crooked smile.

"You deserve each other."

She patted her knee once more before she stood up and left the room.

Donna watched her go, her insides battling with the urges to kill or to kiss her mother. To baffled to do anything, she followed her into the living room and the two watched tv in silence for the rest of the day.


	9. 9

The bed creaked under their weight, as it slightly rocked in rythm with their rapid movements.

Subconsciously Donna spread her legs further and moved her hands down Crowley's back, to press them against his ass in a silent plea for more.

Despite Crowley's objection, Donna had started to work again and due to their limited mutual freetime they saw each other even less frequent.

After a few weeks back home, Donna had become bored with doing nothing, but waiting for Crowley to come by. Her grief over her grandfather had ceased, especially after Crowley assured her that none of his underlings had found seen a sign of him in hell. Whenever her thoughts drifted to the old man, she only hoped that he had a great time in heaven.

To fill her uneventful days, she had applied for a job and now she had an employment as a second pa for a successful lawyer in a solicitor's office.

Even though it was only a part-time job, the work sophisticated her. As brilliant as the man was in court, as headless he was with the paperwork.

Donna spend a lot of time with copying, stapling and ordering his files and frequently got into an argument with his first PA about the right sorting system.

As much as she loved having an occupation, she was glad when she could go home in the evening.

More than once had Crowley suggest ed her to quit her job, but as annoying as it could be, Donna liked being needed and having a task.

And while the lenght of their dates became ridiculous short, instead of drifting them apart, the limited time only made them more intimate. They both didn't want to waste a minute with awkwardness or suppressed anger and so their meetings were always filled with blunt honesty.

Donna's gotten so familiar to the demon's quirks, that she had to take just one look at his tense shoulders and worn out expression to know that a small conversation and a bit of cuddling wouldn't be enough to help him relax tonight.

Without many words she had led him into the bedroom and they started undressed each other.

There was no extensive forplay, no careful touches, just the need to feel the pleasurable relieve as fast as possible.

Crowley had his face buried in Donna's shoulder and she could feel his hot breath coming in pants against her skin.

A small grunt escaped her everytime Crowley sank into her and she moved her hips in rythm to his to increase the pleasure.

It was so easy for her to let go when she felt so close to her lover. A shameless groan fell from her mouth as his thrusts became more frantic. His muscles tensed under her fingers and he freezed buried deep inside her. His arms tightened around her middle as he came with a gravel moan.

He let his lax body drop next to her and took a few deep breaths through his nose to calm his racing heart, before he leaned over and kissed the side of her face.

Without pausing he pushed the sheets away and climbed out of bed in search for his clothes.

Donna sat up and pulled the covers over her naked body, the cold air raising goosebumps on her sweaty skin.

"You're just gonna leave me hanging out to dry?", she asked slightly irritated as she watched Crowley pulling up his pants.

He stopped mid-action and stared at her.

"You didn't-?"

"No", she stressed.

He buttoned his pants and walked over to the bed.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I really have to go", he affirmed as he leant down and pressed another kiss to her cheek. "Remind me next time that I owe you an orgasm."

"Stupid asshole", she mumbled after he turned back to dressing himself, and let the sheet drop in frustration.

Crowley stepped infront of the large mirror and combed his fingers through his mused up hair.

He looked around for his grey tie and Donna spotted it on the carpet next to the bed.

She picked it up and walked over to the Demon. With delicate hands she placed it around his neck and started to knot it.

"I think it's unfair", she began without taking her eyes from her working fingers.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."

The crooked grin softened as he lifted his eyes from her nude breasts to his face and he was startled by the wary expression on her face. It was as naked and open as the rest of the woman's body and he could see how she slowly let her last guards down.

"Not that!", she cut him off. "The first time we met, you promised me whatever I'd wish for in exchange for my soul. Now you've got me, my soul, my body, my everything."

She let her hand glide down the silk tie before she looked up. Holding his eyes, her face turned back into her superior smirk.

"And what did I get?"

"What did you get?", the demon purred, his hands embracing her hips and an equal smirk on his lips.

"Not an orgasm, that much we know."

Crowley let out a barking laugh.

"That's why I'm never getting tired of you. I assure you'll get your reward the next time we meet, but now I've really got to go. I'll see you three in a few days."

He raised his hands to her boobs and gave them a soft squeeze. Before she could slash his fingers away, he had already vanished.

In a mixture of irritation and amusement, Donna walked to the bathroom to take a shower, wondering why it were always the assholes that were so damn charming.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Crowley had long stopped knocking on Donna's door before entering her house. Sometimes Donna thought of him as a stray cat that came and went however he pleased. Today although, he really wished he had announced his presence.

He just rounded the corner to the living room as something hard hit against his head. Startled he held his throbbing forehead and yelled some curses. Immediately, Donna rushed towards him with an apology on her lips.

"Honey, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there."

"Why would you be throwing books around in the first place?!", he asked irritated, as he bent down to pick up the missile. Taking a look at the book's cover, Crowley groaned at the sight of the exaggerated caricatures of the Winchester Brothers.

"Because I didn't agree with the ending", she told him as if it was a perfectly sane answer. Her eyebrows were contracted in sadness and her big blue eyes left him squirming uncomfortably under her gaze. "Did you know how they stopped the apocalypse?"

"Yes, I know how they stopped the apocalypse, it's part my job to know these things. Why, for hell's sake, are you still reading this crap?"

In her eyes, Crowley could see how Donna's mood shifted from confused sadness to fiery anger.

"You knew and you did not once think of telling me?!"

"I thought the important thing was that we're all still alive. The apocalypse was aborted one way or another, where's the difference?"

"Where's the- where's the difference?! Those are people, real people and now Sam is in the cage with Micheal and Lucifer, that stupid angel is just up and away and Dean was left completely alone without his brother or his best friend! I mean, that woman seems fine, but he can fuck her all week, she still isn't his family."

She stopped her passionate rant to gasp for air and Crowley took in her flushed skin and the way her breasts would heave with every breath. Suddenly he was reminded of their last reunion and a jolt of arousal shot through his loins. He shook his head to chase the erotic thoughts out of his mind. There was a reason why he came to visit Donna today and he wouldn't let his sex drive spoil it. Forcing his eyes upwards to her face, he tried to concentrate again on their discussion.

"So you feel bad for the guys who repeatedly tried to kill me?"

"No!", she interjected, but let her head drop at the sight of Crowley raising one eyebrow. "Well, yeah, maybe. But you can't help but feel sorry for them after reading the books. All that misery and pain. You read it and tell me that it doesn't affect you!"

"Thank's, but no. There are more pleasurable ways to get rid of my brain cells than putting myself in the Winchester's shoes. Now, go and get dressed."

Donna sighed but obeyed and went into the hallway to get her shoes and jacket, the demon following her close on her heels.

"Where are we going this time?", she asked suspiciously as she looked for a pair of shoes that would go well with the purple blouse and denim jeans se was wearing.

"It's a surprise."

She gave him a calculating look, before she turned back towards her shoe cabinet and grabbed a pair of brown suede boots. Using Crowley for balance, she put them on.

"But is it like Brighton? I mean, don't get me wrong, lunch with an ocean view was nice for a change, but it's no fun when you can't rub it into anyone's face. Nobody's gonna believe me that we traveled from London to the English Channel and back again within an hour."

"I fear it's exactly like Brighton", he answered with a honeyed voice and she frowned at his mocking tone.

"Than it better be good and not just a waste of time."

"Sweetheart, when did I ever waste your time?"

With a teasing smile, she snatched her jacket of the hook and swung it over her arm.

"When you forced me to watch Rome with you."

"It's a show about the rise and fall of the roman empire. How can you not like that?"

"Politics, violence and sex", she muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"It's a lifestyle."

Before Crowley could lecture her again on her taste in tv shows, she grabbed his hand and urged him to leave.

"Come on, you promised me a surprise."

He gave her another raised eyebrow, the one that questioned how he could fall for her in the first place, but it melted into a smile as he saw the eager look on her face. Without further teasing he snapped his fingers, sending Donna and himself away.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Where the hell did you deport me this time?", Donna demanded to know, trotting after Crowley over an empty ground of gravel towards an old looking building.

"Don't get into a fret, we're still in London, 'tis just a different corner."

"Yeah, but what are we doing here?"

Crowley let one of his trademark smiles show.

"You wanted a reward for sticking around with me and here it is."

He opened a rusty door, the angles screeching at the strain, and they stepped inside the factory building. The air was slightly cooler and smelled of damp mould. The windows were tainted with dust and the light was only fully coming through where the glass was broken and missing. Donna thought she heard the dribbling steps of a rat, but that wasn't the reason why she froze to the spot as her eyes scanned the great hall.

The giant room was empty except from a chair standing in the middle of the dirty floor. Tied to it was a bloody and beaten up man with a gag in his mouth and a blindfold around his eyes. His pained whimperes drifted through the air and became louder as her recognized that other people were in the room.

"What the hell?!", she yelled out of lack for any other words.

Crowley, who had watched her face in anticipation, furrowed his forehead at her shocked expression.

"Surprise", he told her warily.

Tearing her eyes off the man, whom she had recognized to be her ex-husband, she glared at the demon.

"Have you lost your bloody mind?!"

"Why? It's exactly what you wanted. Dog", he pointed towards a spot where Donna could see nothing but the prints of paws in the dust, and then turned towards terrified man on the chair. "and testicles."

"It was a joke!", the redhead exclaimed furious. "I was drunk!"

With her face gleaming with anger, she rushed towards Shaun and snatched off the blindfold. Seeing her face, recognition dawned on his face, immediately followed by pure anger. His muffled screams doubled and he started to struggle against his bonds.

"I'm so sorry", Donna tried to assure him. "This is all just a giant misunderstandig."

She walked behind him and started loosening the knots. Pain shot through her finger as she broke off a nail and it only fueled her fury.

"What are you doing?", Crowley dared to ask her skeptical. Puzzled by it's owners perplex stance, the hellhound started to growl, but Crowley quickly cut it off with a short wave of his hand.

"We're not going to castrate my ex!"

"But you-"

"No!", she yelled unyielding and her voice resounded from the cold brick walls.

Huffing, Crowely put his hands into his pockets and rolled his eyes at the ceiling, his whole body radiating his surrender.

Finally, Donna had untied Shaun off the chair and he immediately jumped up and ripped the gag from his mouth.

"You're gonna pay for this!", he yelled, as he jogged towards the door, always keeping a distance between the demon and himself. "I knew it was a mistake to have married you crazy ass bitch, but this is a whole new level of wrong! And you", he turned to Crowley, one foot already outside of the door. "You're going to jail, you psychopath. I'll make sure they'll lock you away forever!"

The demon just blinked at him unimpressed, not making any move to keep his hostage from escaping.

"Shaun, wait!", Donna shouted and run after the fleeing man, but Crowley stepped in her way.

"Don't worry, he won't get far."

Without thinking twice, she lunged out and slapped him. The smack resounded through the quiet factory hall. Hissing in pain, Donna had to shake the sting out of her hand, before she could glare at Crowley again.

"What the hell?!", she yelled furious. He stroke his sore cheek before he began to form an answer, but Donna got ahead of him.

"You can't just kidnap Shaun and think that I'm gonna be all psycho-killer with you! God, what is wrong with you?"

"I just thought-"

"No! No, you didn't think, that's the problem. You just had this delusional, egocentric idea that I wouldn't care for other people anymore. Do you know me at all? Did you really think I'd enjoy it if you chopped up my ex like some crazy butcher? Like some proper monster?"

Anger started to rise inside Crowley and he squinted his eyes at the human shouting at him. To fast for her to react, his hands shot forwards and grabbed the fabric of her jacket. Pulling her head close towards his own, he snarled into her face.

"I've got news for you, kitten. I am that proper monster!", he roared in a gravel voice. His hot breath hit her face with every word, the smell of sulfur burning in her nostrils like never before. She tried to push him away, but he was to strong and her hands pressed against his chest felt like they tried to move a wall. "I kill for a living and I take what I want and I'll still sleep like a baby tonigjt. Now, don't you play all doe-eyed on me, 'cause you knew right from the start what I am and what I do."

"Let me go!" The scream came from the top of her lungs, but he could still hear the quiver in her voice, indicating the underlying fear.

He pulled her even closer and felt her squirming under his hold on her. Her eyes were wide and her pupils blown in fear, their provocating spark amiss. Her face was ashen, no signs of that lively blush that used to grace her skin during their other fights. It hit him that he had finally accomplished to make Donna Noble afraid of him.

A clenching feeling took suddenly hold of his chest and he let go of Donna's jacket as if it had given him an electric shock. Surprised by the sudden release she stumbled backwards.

For a moment she stood frozen to the place, shell-shocked, before she walked past him towards the exit, not averting her eyes off him.

"Just... stay away from me", she told him, keeping her voice as controlled as possible, but unable to disguise the small tremor. Even from the distance, Crowley could see how her face became puffy and her eyes turned red.

"Donna, I'm-"

"Keep it", she warned him with one hand raised. "Just... leave me alone."

With her whole body slightly shaking, she turned around and walked outside and Crowley let her go without any further words.


	10. 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you see, I don't really have a system, I just post the stuff I got and therefore everything lacks a real title

The sky over Chiswick was clear and starlit. From the small hill behind her mother's house, Donna could see them twinkle despite the city's dazzling lights.

Sylfia had donated Wilfred's telescope to the community center, but even though Donna had been furious at the time, she had to admit that, just like her mother, she had no idea how to use the thing. Back when her grandfather was still alive, he used to point out single orbits or planets to her, but as much as she loved sharing those nights with him, she had never asked for him to teach her more about astronomy.

The cup of tea in her hand had long gone cold as she tried to find the few constellations she remembered on the night sky.

It was even harder then usual with her mind running wild. Her thoughts tended to go back to a certain demon, at whom she was to mad to think about right now. Still the memories came back whenever she wasn't occupied by any other mundane task. Suddenly, she'd miss the honesty of a genuine conversation or the easiness of flirtatious banter. She'd miss caressing hands holding her firmly and pulling her in a tight embrace as if they never wanted to let go. But most of all she'd miss the feeling of dark eyes boring into her, watching her with adoration as if she was the most important woman on earth and not just some chav from chiswick.

But only seconds after the longing engulfed her, she remembered the other side of the man who evoked those cravings in her and she immediately felt bad for yearning for the presence of a cold-blooded murderer.

The sound of footsteps chased her thoughts away. She rolled her eyes and clasped a hand over her face, not ready to talk to anyone yet.

"Mom, if I wanted to talk to you I would have stayed inside."

"Is there anyone you wanna talk to these days?", an all to familiar deep voice wondered.

Her head snapped to the side and she was faced with the very demon she couldn't stop thinking about.

"For christs sake, how many times are you going to sneak up on me?", she asked herself aloud. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I had my boys watch your mother's house. I knew you'd visit her sooner or later."

He came to a halt a view feet away from her and watched her cautiously like a small bird that would fly away every moment.

"Great, thanks for the creeps and now get lost." She turned her gaze back to the stars, he face an angry mask.

"What else was I supposed to do with all the demon traps around your house? I've gotta hand it to you, you've been very thorough. Where did you learn to make the sigils?"

With her eyes stubbornly planted on the stars, Donna kept quiet.

"So, you're not gonna talk to me. I gotta say I'm not surprised, you're just as bullheaded as I am."

Donna took a deep breath through her nose to keep herself from barking back at him and her fingers tensed as they grabbed the cup a little harder.

"But I was impressed when I found the tracking device I'd given to you. Darling, I've never been so angry and so proud at the same time as when I found out that for the last few days I had been tracking the route of your neighbour's cat."

He pushed his hands in his pockets and shifted from one foot to the other, impatiently waiting for a reaction from her, some teasing words like how she's always been superior to him or that she'd thought it would take him longer to figure it out, but she remained silent.

"Alright, I'm going to say something now that not many people have ever heard from me, so you better feel like a special snowflake. I'm sorry, Donna. I should have known that underneath all that snarky sarcasm you're just a human with a heart as big as her mouth and, and I - you gonna say something?", he stammered as she suddenly stood up and emptied the cup of tea into the closest bush.

She just couldn't sit there anymore and listen to him or she'd do something stupid like strangle him or even forgive him.

Without saying another word, she walked past him, but he grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"Don't you just walk out on me!", he barked at her and she turned stone-cold eyes upon him.

"Talk to me or-"

"Or what?", she snapped. "What, huh? Don't you come to me with your demon threats or you can slit my throat right here and now, 'cause I'm not gonna play that way with you!"

Immediately, he let go of her, as if her skin suddenly had catched fire.

"You know I'd never do that to you", he whispered, his voice as soft again as it has been before.

She rubbed a palm over her face. Of course she knew. In all their time together they had only been fighting with words and the only bruises he had left on her had been the results of too frantic lovemaking.

She took a deep, calming breath before she let her hand drop and let her gaze wander over the distant city lights.

"Do you remember when we watched HBO and I wondered how that mobster's wife could keep on living like a stepford wife even though she knew exactly how her husband earned his money?"

"Are you comparing us to The Sopranos?"

"I don't think I could handle being the mobster's wife."

"But you don't really know yet", he pushed her with a hint of hope in his voice. "But I don't think it would work."

"But you accept my apology."

"I-"

"Of course you do. Look at us having our cute couply back-and-forth discussion." He gestured between them, his trade-mark grin slowly appearing on his features.

"I hate you", she countered lamely with her arms hanging by her side in defeat.

"Everytime you say that, I'm getting all warm and tingly in my soft spots."

"You don't have any soft spots", she scoffed.

"What else am I supposed to call you?"

He reached out for her as he moved closer, but Donna kept the distance between them and raised her hand.

"Just because I forgive you doesn't mean we can straight go back to how we were."

A small part within Donna begged her to take these words back and just hug and kiss Crowley as she saw how his face fell, but she swallowed the unwanted feelings down and carried on.

"I'm no Bonnie Parker, I won't unconditionally love a man who's hobbies are illegal in all western countries."

"But you seemed to be fine with it before. You can't just make me fall in love with you and then back out!"

There it was, that bloody L-word. How dared this bastard!

Donna shifted on the spot uncomfortably, trying not to spill any words she could later regret. This is a man aspiring to become king of hell. You don't just stumble in a relationship with that! She didn't know what she had been thinking in the first place. This would be it. This relationship would end tonight, before she'd get involved any deeper with a guy without a conscience or any empathy, a demon of all things.

She was about to tell him so as suddenly her heart reached up and talked with her mouth without permission.

"I just need some time to think."

He nodded in understanding and shoved his hands back deep into his black coat's pockets.

Crickets clittered their chrous and in the distance a car drove past.

They stood in silence, glancing at each other, then letting their eyes roam over the dark of the hill until they landed on each other again.

"The sooner you leave, the sooner I can start thinking", Donna broke the quiet.

"Because this is strange, right? Talking, but no touching."

"No, but if I keep seeing that stupid grin of yours, my decision will be made pretty fast and it's not gonna be in your favour."

"Alright", he lifted his hands in surrender. "I won't bother you anymore. But please don't let me wait forever."

"Of course", she waved him off and turned to walk back inside the house.

"And call of your bum-bailiffs before my mom gets paranoid and takes it out on me", she advised him without looking back. "If she does, I'm gonna take it out on you."

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Keeping himself hidden away, Crowley observed Castiel watching Dean Winchester. That angel seemed to have real issues. He obviously ogled the human the same way he had watched Donna last week, when she was gazing at the stars, unaware of her surroundings. There was love and adoration in his eyes, but also the fear of rejection. But unlike the demon, Castiel didn't take his chance and acted on his feelings. He just stood still like a statue with his eyes locked on the righteous man.

The Winchester boy was clueless about his observers. He sweeped together the leafs in his backyard as if there weren't more important things going on in the world, As if Crowley didn't just conquered a leaderless hell, as if there weren't a war going on in heaven. It wouldn't take much to overtake this man who had given up on the supernatural fight and completely let his guard down in his new mundane life.

But Crowley wasn't here for the Winchester and it surely wouldn't help his cause, if he took away his future business partner's favourite thing. Still he had to act now, before the angel would suddenly man up and talk to his man-crush.

Smothering his own feelings about a certain redhead, he was able to concentrate on his work. His anger and frustration even doubled his energy and gave him the strength to achieve his goal. He was the new king on the throne of hell, commanding an army of demons and securing and increasing his power. Nevertheless, he was sure that he would have reached all of this even faster with the woman he loved on his side, instead of always on his mind. Everything would have felt a little easier if he could have talked it through with her or if he could have fled into her arms after a long day of gruelling power games.

If Castiel would talk to Dean now, the hunter wouldn't turn him down and the heavenly soldier would feel the support and love that Crowley so missed. He couldn't let this happen, he needed Castiel uncertain and guideless, without a real encouragement to fight the war up in heaven. This way he could use the angel to his own advantage and gain even more power. If only he could stop thinking about his last meeting with Donna. It had left him uncertain and frustrated. The waiting was torture and her cold distance had hurt him more than he thought was possible. His fingers had itched to touch her soft skin again and his lips had prickled with the ghost of former kisses and the anticipation of new ones, but she had refused him. She didn't even deemed it as necessary to take one last look back as she stated her last request while walking away from him. Of course he had not called off his men. He had sent some of his thicker demons, that kind that doesn't ask any questions, to watch her steps, but it was only out of his concern for her and there was nothing wrong with that. He'd feel more assured if he could ask Belphegor or some of his other more intelligent demons to keep an eye on her, but he wass concerned that they could find out the real reasons for his action, which could easily make a target out of Donna.

He shook his head, trying to ban her from his thoughts. He had promised to wait for her to think it through and wait he would. In the meantime, he had other important things to do.

With a confident smile on his face, he willed himself visible to only the angel, a trick he had acquired with his rising powers.

Castiel didn't seem surprised to see the demon. Or he was just to tired to feel something as surprise anymore. With his hanging shoulders and the drawn out look on his face, Crowley couldn't really tell, but it was all the better for his plans.

The angel did not disappoint him and after one last look at the retired hunter, he turned around and went with the demon.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It was a wednesday, her mother's bridge evening. How could she have forgotten that? Otherwise she surely wouldn't have stood on her mother's front porch, taken by surprise by two pairs of, for their age surprisingly strong, female hands pulling her inside with the words that Margie, that fine friend, hadn't shown up and now they were missing a player.

Now she was seated infront of her mother, her two backbiting friends on either side of her, trying to get the rules of the games right so that Sylfia would stop nagging her every round they lost.

Luckily for Donna, there was alcohol, not only in form of wine, but also some herb-flavoured liquor that suspiciously tasted like cough syrup. Why not kill two birds with one stone?, Donna thought and not only drank until she'd lost her urge to yell at the women at this table for being plain stupid and annoying, but also preventively had fought of any loomimg coughing fit.

"You know what Kelly's boyfriend did this week?", the woman to Donna's left, Rosie, started as she poured herself another glass of wine.

Donna loved stories about Kelly, they always made herself look much better as a daughter. She leaned forward, intrigued about what that girl and her small time criminal boyfriend had done this time.

"She had lent him her car and he drove straight against a ticket machine. Kelly says it was an accident, but you know what he did after it happened? He didn't call Kelly, no no! That machine was crashed and all the money for the parking tickets was leaking out onto the street, and so he grabbed as much as he could carry and then went down to The Stag and bought a round for the whole pub!"

"That man is so stupid!", Edith, the woman to Donna's right, commented. "Wasn't he on probation?"

"What about the car? Does his insurance cover that?", Sylia asked.

"The court hearing's gonna be next month, I really hope they send him behind bars. He'd brought enough havoc upon us. Kelly's gonna have to pay for the whole mess and she's angry at me when I tell her to split up with him!"

"It's the old dilemma, women have a weakness for bad boys!", Edith winked and the words sounded strange out of the mouth of the grey-haired woman wearing a rose cardigan.

Rosie immediately protested. "That's a stupid stereotype! No one wants to spend her life with an arsehole."

"Right, no woman in her right mind let's herself be treated like that", Donna supported her. "What about dad?", she turned to her mother after playing her card. "He wasn't a goody two-shoes but he never treated you wrong."

"He was always a gentleman. I mean we had our fights, but I wasn't completely guiltless." She tilted her head to the side as she remembered the time with her deceased husband. "But he was quite the idiot at his younger age. You should have seen him when he drove by on his small moped without wearing a helmet. He thought he was the king of the block. Did you know he was in a gang? Nothing serious, they just fine-tuned their autocycles and tried to show off, but I was still so proud when he asked me out."

"There's the catch, nothing flatters a woman more than a man who acts like an arse towards the whole world but treats her like a princess."

"There is no such thing as a nice arse. He's either a good man or a bad man."

"But he can still have a nice arse!"

The three woman howled at Edith's joke, their faces turning red and puffy from the laughter.

"Donna, it's your turn", her mother reminded her and pulled her out of her thoughts. "Quit those pouty lips and play. Can't you bear some old women still having some fun?"

"That wasn't a pout, it was dismay", she countered flippantly and played her next card.

Edith's words had hit a bit too close to home. She had enjoyed the attention and she had felt special to be the lover to a creature that most people wouldn't think of bing capable to love. And she would lie if she said that she didn't miss it.

Frustrated about being a stereotype, she poured herself another glass.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It was close to midnight when the cab dropped her infront of her home. With some difficulties, she unlocked the door and stumbled inside.

Her hallway wasn't as cosy as it used to be, it reminded her more of a meeting room for a coven of witches, but the pentagrams and devil's traps seemed necessary to keep an unwelcomed demon out of her house. The rest of the rooms didn't look much better. Every window seat was riddled with a thick line of salt, a consent reminder of the supernatural being in her life and the promise she had made.

She was thinking about her relationship with Crowley, she really was racking her brain, but everytime the thought about what he had done, it angered her like nothig before, and yet the thought of never seeing him again saddened her to an amount that was already scary.

To tired to care, she threw her bag and jacket onto the shoe cabinet and climbed the stairs up to her bathroom, where she got ready to sleep. After brushing her teeth, she changed into her pyjamas and went to bed.

She rolled sleeplessly around in her bed for half an hour, her mind not shutting up for once and keeping her awake, before she threw the covers aside in frustration.

Barefoot, she padded down the staircase to stop and sit on the lower steps, her eyes inspecting the giant demon defence she had drawn across the inside of her front door.

Donna didn't have guests since she'd demon proofed her house. She didn't know how to explain all the scribblings on the wall and lines of salt on the ground. Sometimes she wished the old times back, before she was an expert on the field of demonology.

With a huff, she tore her eyes away from the door and stood up to walk into the kitchen. Somewhere in her cabinets had to be a bottle of wine. She found it after some rummaging and poured herself a generous glass. Why shouldn't she keep up this evening's activities, just because she was home alone now? Maybe the alcohol could help her find the answers that she couldn't come up with herself. Veritas in vino, or something like that.

With the wine glass in her hand, she walked back into the hallway and leaned against the staircase to continue staring at the front door.

The glass was half empty as she decided to stagger back into the kitchen and get a knife out of one of the drawers.

Keeping a thight hold on the handle, she made her way towards the painted door. Some of the wine spilled as she balanced it in her left hand and used her right one to raised the knife towards the paint.

With a few misguided scratches, she managed to put a crack in the perfectly drawn circle.

She hold her breath and looked around, straining her ears for any treacherous sounds, but nothing happened.

"I'm not gonna wait the whole night for you", she slurred to the empty room, but the house kept quiet.

She shook her head, feeling like a fool, and emptied her glass in a big gulp, before she turned around to put it into the kitchen sink.

Her heart missed a beat as she suddenly noticed the figure standing behind her, and she nearly dropped the objects in her hands.

Crowley lifted his hands as an act of reassurance and apology, but Donna still slapped his chest with the back of her hand.

"Was that really necessary?"

"I'm sorry, but you used to notice when I arrived", he remarked with a disenchantment she wasn't used to hear in his voice.

"Yeah, I know", she agreed with him as she put the knife and the glass on the last bit of space on the top of her shoe cabinet. "We should change that, you should visit me more often again."

Swaying slightly, she put her hands on his shoulder to steady herself and then stood on her toes to press a firm kiss to his lips. Crowley catched up immediately and put his arms around her frame. She moaned at the tight hold, as he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

Donna had to pull back and lean her head against his shoulder as she ran out of air.

"You're drunk", Crowley stated as calmly as if he talked about the weather. His tongue darted out as if he tasted the wine on his lips.

"Don't you try to tell me I don't know what I'm doing." She tried to pull out of his embrace to argue with him properly, but the grip around her shoulders didn't ease.

"No, I'm actually glad you are. Drunk decisions are made with the heart, not with the head."

She looked into his deep brown eyes, trying to find a witty remark, but her brain couldn't come up with anything. Instead she put a hand on the back of his head and pulled him into another eager kiss. She let her other hand glide under his coat and pushed it down his shoulders. Realising her intentions, he loosened his grip and helped her to undress himself. His shoes were hastily kicked off and the tie was thrown over the banister rail as they stumbled up the stairs.

Crowley had already lost his shirt and half the buttons of Donna's top had been undone as they passed the bedroom door. He pushed her down on the mattress and kneeled over her to kiss down the exposed skin of her cleavage. With her fingers entangled in his hair, she pulled his face back up to kiss him again. His tongue felt hot in her mouth and her hips started to move on their own with the intense feeling of finally being in his arms again. Her hazy mind wondered how she could have pushed him away in the first place, when her thoughts were interrupted by a jolt of pleasure caused by Crowley pinching her nipple softly between his fingers.

Driven by lust, she pushed against his shoulders and rolled them both over so that she was lying on top of him.

The sudden movement had her head spinning and the feeling of nausea rose in her chest. She immediately sat up, one hand held against her pounding forehead.

"What's wrong?", Crowley asked worried as he rose on his forearms.

"Nothing, just moved a tad too fast", she reassured him, but her voice couldn't even fool herself.

He sighed, before he lied back down and beckoned her to do the same.

"Come here."

With strong guiding hands, he pulled her to his side and tugged her head under his chin. Their legs entangled on their own in a comfortable position.

"Sleep tight", he mumbled before he pressed a kiss to her hairline.

Within seconds, Donna's eyes fell closed and her breath evened out as she tumbled into a sound sleep.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Donna felt confused and disoriented as she woke a few hours later between dishevelled sheets. The sun wasn't up yet and the only light glimly illuminating the room came from the street lamps outside the window.

She blindy groped her way to the other side of the bed, finding it empty and cold.

Tears prickled in the corner of her eyes, as she damned her wild imagination. This must have been the most stupid dream she had in a long time. And still it had felt so good. Too good to be true actually.

She turned on her side and pulled the sheets closer around herself. The alcohol still had her head in a dizzy state with every vast movement and she tried to push the feeling away by squeezing her eyes closed.

With a pounding head and a heavy heart, she fell back into a restless sleep.


	11. 11

Donna woke to soft snoring in her ear. She shielded her eyes from the early morning light and cuddled closer to the warm body behind her, instinctively knowing that it must be Crowley who had his arm laid around her middle.

So last night hasn't been a dream, she thougt with a smug smile on her lips. But had her being alone in her bed been the real dream then? She was confused. And the blooming headache, that softly pounded in the back of her brain, didn't make thinking any easier for her.

Deciding that she couldn't sleep with the first symptoms of a hangover anyway, she sat up and leaned her back against the headboard.

"Crowley, wake up", she croaked, her voice still rough from sleep. He grumbled sleepily, turned around and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Oh, come on", she sighed, as she tried to pull the blankets away from him. "I know that demons don't need any sleep."

"They don't need to eat, either, yet you never see me turning down a Big Mac", he argued. Giving up his half-hearted fight for the blanket, he turned back around, threw his arm over Donna's hip and buried his face in her side. His warm breath poured over her skin as he continued to speak. "It's a sin, it's kind of in our job description. And sloth is actually my second favourite, right after lust."

She squirmed a little, as the demon pressed open mouthed kisses to her side.

"Wait, wait a second", she huffed breathlessly, as the tickling touch of his lips rose goosebumps on her skin. This was too fast. It was always too fast with Crowley, two days ago she was hating his guts, yesterday she missed him like a phantom limp and today they were back at screwing each others brains out. Wasn't this why she wanted her space in the first place? To have some time to think, before she went in again with her head over heels? With one confident shove she pushed him away and fixed him with a stern look. "I think we need to talk, don't you?"

"Oookay." He sat up next to her against the headboard and returned her serious look with a more mocking one of his own. "Okay, what do you wanna talk about?"

She shrugged her shoulders in a defensive manner and rolled her eyes at him reproachfully for not starting a topic on his own. Scaning her brain for a way to express her concerns, she blurted out the first thought in the forefront of her mind. "Have you been gone away last night?"

Crowley averted his eyes to the ceiling and pursed his lips, pretending to think about the question, before slowly answering."Well, I hoped you wouldn't notice."

The frown on her face deepened as she just starred at him for a moment, before she raised her fist and punched his upper arm.

"Ouch", he whined, more for her pleasure than from any actual pain. "What was that for?!"

"For just leaving after sex? For not leaving a note? For not thinking about how it would make me feel waking up alone?" Her voice rose with every point she made. "Just choose one! You know what?", she interrupted Crowley and held a hand infront of his face as he began to form words in his defence. "This is what we need to talk about! We have to talk about some rules. Rule number one: You don't just flap away into the sunset like some lone ranger. I want to know where you go and when you'll be back, and not have to sit around and wait for you as if I'm just another girl in another port."

"Aw, but you're the only girl in this sailor's heart, darling."

"Number two!", she continued unimpressed and counting her claims on her fingers. "You don't kidnap my acquaintances, not even the ones I hate."

"I would lie if I'd say that I didn't see that one coming", he sighed.

"Could you at least pretend to take this serious?", she snapped. "Otherwise you can go puff and get lost and I won't have to waste my breath anymore."

The demon crossed his arms and sank deeper into the cushions. "I'm not going anywhere", he said with a stern look.

Donna scrutinized him for a moment, checking if he finally understood the seriousness of the situation, and then went on. "And you don't torture any people anymore."

She watched with rising fume as his serious mask slowly slipped off again and turned into a bad caricature of somebody caught red-handed.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem", he rushed in a high voice. "They kind of expect some torturing from the king of hell."

"The what?!" Flailing to keep the blanket around her naked body, Donna got out of the bed and glared at him in a red rage. "Bad enough that you're a crossroad demon, now all out of a sudden you're king of hell?!"

"Stop acting like it's a surprise to you. You knew from the beginning what I am and I had told you that I was working on a promotion."

"I didn't think you'd really do it!"

"Thanks, doll. You're a real encouragement", he snarled at her.

"I wanted more compromises! Anything that made you less of a monster."

Suddenly, Crowley had jumped out of bed, not caring about his nudity, and stood right infront of her, his face leaning close to hers.

"I have made these compromises!", he yelled in frustration. His whole posture had lost it's calm shell and his burning anger came to the surface, pumping the blood throug his veins and lighting up small fires in his eyes.

Donna stepped backwards, as if she had been slapped, and wrapped the blanket like an armour closer around her body. He sighed loudly as he watched a flicker of fear crossing her face, before it was replaced by her anger. She was taking a deep breath to yell back at him, but he used the pause to get his point across before she could tell him to get lost.

"Listen", he said in a low voice, forcing the demonic red to leave his eyes as he pushed his anger aside. "I am a demon and there is nothing we can do to change that. I'm making the best I can out of this situation and I know you don't approve of the... more drastic measures my kind likes to take, but don't tell me I'm not trying, because I already made a lot of compromises."

"Oh, yeah? What kind of?", she sneered still not appeased by his calm argumenting.

"It's probably better if I just show you", he told her, as he took a step back and snapped his fingers. Within a blink, he was dressed in is dark suit again. With another snap of his fingers, Donna felt the barrier of clothes between her skin and the blanket she was still holding around her body. She let it drop to the ground and viewed her outfit astonished, before she wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "The same clothes as yesterday?!"

Crowley rolled his eyes subtly. "Where we're going, no ones gonna care if you smell a little." Before the woman could protest again, he had grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him.

 

This flight was worse than every other one before. It was not as disorienting as the long trip to Alaska, her body seemed to be pulled constantly into the same direction, but the pressure that engulfed Donna from every side didn't stop growing to the point where she couldn't breath anymore, because her chest felt to heavy to rise.

The moment the smoke around her cleared away and the pressure eased off, she sucked the air into her lungs and started to cough at the sharp smell of sulfur.

"Where the bloody hell did you take me?", she demanded to know between gulps of air. Crowley just shot her a smirking glance.

"Correct."

"My patience is wearing this thin", she hold her thumb and pointer to his face, keeping the smallest distance between them. "Stop it with the jokes."

He pushed her fingers out of his face with one hand and waved with a flourish gesture at the room with the other one.

"This is hell."

"No, it's not", she snorted, pointing at the silent people standing in line. "This looks like the tax office in Chiswick."

She took a look around in the long hall. The end and the beginning of the line was to far for her to see and she wondered what all these people were waiting for. They're faces were as blank as the grey walls to their sides and filled the place with the feelings of depression and anxiety. Donna was only a minute there and she aready wanted to leave this grueling place.

"I am trying to reorganize. As king of hell I was so free to make some changes. This is the new Limbo, if you wanna call it that. The first circle of hell." The demon slowly walked along the waiting queue, as he began to explain. Donna followed him bewildered, her anger pushed aside by her curiosity, and looked at the damned men and women intrigued. "These souls are here for minor sins, petty crimes. I felt like you woudn't like it if I'd let them rot in the pit with the rest."

"So instead you're torturing their minds. I don't know if that isn't even worse." She wraped her arms around herself to surpress a shiver. "What happens when they reach the end of the line?"

"Nothing, they just go back to the start." His tone carried a subliminal pride, that not even his straight face could hide. Donna couldn't help but notice his light steps and his haughty demeanour.

"But this isn't all of them, right? You said this is the first circle. Do you still torture the other ones the traditional way?"

He stopped and turned her attention to a young woman standing in line. Her blonde hair hang in greasy strands around her grim face and her back was arched as if a heavy weight was settled upon her shoulders.

"This one got pragnent by her rapist. No one believed her because her skirts had always been to short and she had put this upon herself. Suicides end in hell, but because of her otherwise clean record, we put her here. Now tell me", he turned back to Donna with his deep, calming voice. "Should her baby-daddy stand in the same line as she does?"

The redhead evaded his gaze and eyed the unfortunate woman. "Why punish her at all?"

A small, satisfied smile softened his face, but this time his proud feelings seemed to be directed at her instead of himself. "You just keep asking the right questions, don't you?", he smirked and then changed into his business voice. "This is the least I can do. Hell has a certain reputation, this isn't a holiday resort after all, and if I fail to keep it up, how long do you think I'll stay on top of the food chain before the first demons start to loose their respect of me?"

She considered his answer, before she turned back to him. Her look was still challenging, but her unsure voice told him, that she began to understand where he was coming from.

"What do you do to the other ones?"

"You really wanna know?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Letting her arms fall to her sides and straightening her back, she gave him a forceful nod.

"I can't go into detail about all of them, but as soon as her offender ends up down here, he is going to be fed is own dick for breakfast for the rest of eternity." This time, Crowley clearly couldn't keep the self-satisfied smirk from his face. He waited for Donna to return it, but she kept a straight face and stayed unusually quiet, turning his smile in a concerned frown.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah", she huffed with another thoughtful glance towards the mistreated girl. "I just want to leave. Please."

"Okay."

He laid his hand on her shoulder, but on a second thought he let it slide down her arm and took her hand. Seing it as a good sign that she didn't pull away, he intertwined his fingers with hers.

Just a few seconds later they stood in Donna's sunlit kitchen, the events seeming surreal to her. Still thinking to herself silently, she sat down at the table, while Crowley turned towards the counter and started making tea, one eye always on the woman.

While the water slowly heated up, he walked up next to her.

"You know I can't stand it when you're yelling at me, but I loath it when you don't talk at all."

Donna lifted her eyes from the table and studied him with an assessing gaze.

"I've been thinking."

With a deep sigh, he let himself drop down on a chair.

"That never worked in my favour."

"I've been thinking about compromises. In a way, you are just punishing the bad boys, right?"

"Well, yeah, if you wanna look at it that way-"

"So what if I agree on the compromise that I turn a blind eye on your... your job, as long as you never bring any work back home."

The anxious expression on Crowley's face immediately lifted and turned into the most honest smile she had ever seen on him.

"I could certainly drink that cup!"

Resting one hand around her neck, he leaned forward, but Donna pulled back before his lips could even graze hers. With her fingers on his mouth, she gave him a meaningful look.

"I'm serious. No demonic games or evil plots unless it has strictly to do with your position." It was still strange for her to think about Crowley's new position. King of hell, it would be ridiculous, if she didn't already knew so much about the supernatural world. And to imagine that she used to strive to end up with a lawyer! Even though her mother would probably see no difference between the two. "And the other stuff, too. No more sudden vanishing!"

Covering the fact, that he could barely keep from rolling his eyes, Crowley fiercely nodded his head in agreement.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Only if I get control over the remote now and then."

He watched with deep satisfaction as the corner of her lips twitched upwards, because that smile, how ever small it was, it was the first she had graced him with this morning. And to be the one who put it there? It felt fucking great to be able to do this again.

"Except when The Bachelor is on, I know how much you love that show."

"You'd wish, you arse! I only watch it 'cause otherwise you'd pester me until I switch the chanel", she countered with a laugh that made the proud feeling in Crowley's chest swell up even more.

Her hand on his shoulder pulled him back into her space and he closed his eyes in anticipation of finally reviving their relationship with a kiss. Savouring the moment, he delayed the intimate gesture by letting their nose softly graze first.

The blatant whistle of the kettle startled them both out of the action. Exhaling the breath he had been holding, Crowley let his forhead drop to Donna's shoulder. With a small chuckle, she combed her finger's through his hair, before she pushed him away once again.

"Now go and make me breakfast, my hangover is killing me."

To her surprise, he got up and followed her request without objecting, but not without stealing a quick kiss first.

Maybe this can work, she thought with glee. If we talk more things out, this could really work.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been ages since I updated this story and I'm sorry, but somehow I got stuck with it and needed some time away from it. Thank you for still being here!
    
    
    With a  of her hip, Donna pushed the front door to her home open and staggered into the hall, dripping rainwater all over the floor. She harrumphed unhappily, as she balanced a large box full of office supplies under one arm and tried to pull her key out of the lock with the other hand. She really needed to oil this goddamn door. The old building in the heart of London was beautiful when she had bought it, but she hadn't thought about all the work one had to put in those houses to keep it that way. 
    
    Alarmed as the ringing of her phone began to resound through the house, she jerked her key free, but lost hold of the brown box. It fell with a crash to the ground, it's contents skittering across the floor. Squinting her eyes shut, she let out a frustrated snarl and then kicked the door shut with a lot more force than necessary. 
    
    She rushed into the living room to search for the still ringing phone, leaving wet patches on the floor behind, all the while muttering under her breath about the shittiest week she ever had. It hadn't stopped raining for days now and even longer she hadn't heard anything from Crowley, although especially today she wanted to do nothing more than crawl into his arms and hide from the world. 
    
    They had easily slipped back into a comfortable togetherness, both content to know now what the other wanted and had to give in return. Donna still hated it when Crowley had to go overseas for some important 'business meeting', apparently all the end-of-the-world scenarios went down in the USA, but since their fight at least he always let her know where he was going and for how long he would be gone. 
    
    But this time, all she got was a text on her phone four days ago, saying nothing but "Gonna be longer, going downstairs". When she tried to call him and ask for more specific information, the voice at the other end of the line told her that the number she tried calling was not available at the moment. Since then she had been waiting and wondering how much longer 'longer' meant. The only reason why she hadn't left some feisty voice mails was that as far as she could tell, this was his first time to infringe their ever-growing list of compromises, while one of  her own new accommodations had been to try to be more patient and not so quick to anger. 
    
    They had made up a lot of new rules in the last month, some to be taken more seriously than the others, just like number 23 was about letting Crowley teach her everything he knew about how to ward onself from angels and demons and other monsters, while number 39 forbid her to watch an episode of Breaking Bad without him. 
    
    In exchange, he had to promise to at least try and get along with her mother. She knew that Sylvia could be a little hard to handle on her good days, but she was still her mother an if anyone was aloud to fight with her, than it was no one but her own daughter. 
    
    Speaking of the devil, Donna thought with a look at the caller ID. She gathered her thoughts and then took the call.
    
    "Hi mom."
    
    "Hey, did you know that your cousin Sheyla got a promotion?" 
    
    "No, I did not. Good for her", she said halfheartedly, waiting for the inevitable accusation between the lines.
    
    "Do you know what she does with her raise? She visits Rome! And she invited her mother along!"
    
    She let out an annoyed sigh and wiped away the remaining waterdrops from her face with one hand. 
    
    "Mom, I gave you money. If you want to visit Rome, just go and visit it."
    
    "Who said I wanted to go on vacation? And if I went, I wouldn't like to travel alone. But you wouldn't come with me, would you? You'd be happy if I'd leave the country for a few weeks, wouldn't you?" 
    
    Donna rolled her eyes as let the continued magging of her mother wave over her. Somehow she thought this was her own fault, she had walked right into that one.
    
    Two strong arms closed around her middle and she jumped before she noticed who embraced her from behind. Finally slowly relaxing, she leaned back against Crowley. 
    
    "Mom, I've gotta go", she declared, happy to have an excuse to hang up on her. "I have a guest."
    
    "Is it that scottish bloke again?", her mother went on in her reproachfull voice. "I'm not sure if that man's any good for you, he gives me this bad feeling. You know I've always been a good judge of character, I always told Mikey that his girlfriend was just after his money an then she went and-"
    
    "Okay, goodbye mom. I'll call you!", she interrupted Sylfia and ended the call. She threw the device back on the couch and turned around in Crowley's arms, reciprocating his hug. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and tightened his on her. After a few deep and calming breaths, his silence started to worry her. 
    
    "Have you been downstairs the whole time?", Donna tentatively broke the silence. She could feel his head moving affirmatively against the side of her neck. "Nine days here, how many days is it in hell time?" 
    
    "Too many time", he said, his voice muffled against her skin. 
    
    "That's not even a proper sentence." Moving out of his embrace, she took in his crooked tie and weary expression. The line between his eyes was deepened from tension and she pressed a kiss to it, trying to smooth it out. 
    
    "You'd think that they'd be able to take care of the crossroad deals by themselves, now that I have all of hell to run instead of a small part, but they're all a bunch of incompetent idiots." 
    
    Donna sat down on the couch as she watched Crowley angrily flailing his arms. 
    
    "If one more demon forgets to collect an overdue soul, I'm gonna let the hellhounds rip him apart along with their client."
    
    He puffed out a stream of air,as if he could let out all his anger with one breath, and then let himself drop down on the couch. With a pout, he draped himself across Donna's lap. She had to suppress the urge to laugh at the demons childish behaviour, it was hard to believe that this guy was in charge of hell. Instead, she combed her fingers through his dark hair and mused how she could improve the day for both of them. 
    
    "There's some chinese left-over in the fridge."
    
    "You gonna get it for me?"
    
    "No", she said, stretching the o. "I can't, you're lying on top of me. And my week wasn't all peachy either, you know."
    
    Crowley sighed loudly, before he wiggled around and looked up at her face. 
    
    "Alright, alright. So, what's up with the box in the hall? The one with the broken mug and the stapler with the name Patrice on it?"
    
    "They sacked me", she huffed angrily.
    
    "Great. So you got more time for me now", he said with a halfhearted grin.
    
    "Stop being a selfish dick." She pushed him from her lap. "I lost my job!"
    
    "Come on, it can't be that bad. You hated it anyway", he said sitting up and facing her properly.
    
    "I didn't hate my job, I hated my co-workers. On tuesday, Patrice had deleted the first draft of the Newman-contract and I felt so sorry for her that I helped her to tipe the whole thibg anew and then I didn't get a thank you and she didn't even mention to our boss that I helped her. Who, by the way, let off all of his steam by criticising my work. He said I wasn't typing fast enough. I'm the best temp in that whole bloody office. None of those hairspray sniffing skirts can type as fast as I can and he's telling me that I'm to slow."
    
    "He fired you because you're to slow?", Crowley asked confused. Donna's layoff wasn't a big deal to him. He had always told her to get another job or just quit altogether. Money wasn't their problem, it was time that they both seemed to be lacking. Still he tried to follow the stream of words tumbling out of her mouth, because he knew that Donna could best deal with her problems by discussing them. 
    
    "No, but in a way yes."
    
    Crowley rolled his eyes and loosened his tie, preparing himself to sit a little bit longer on this couch. 
    
    "They have been ungrateful all week", Donna continued without pausing. "And yesterday my boss told me to get him a cup of coffee and I'm stupid enough and I get it for him. And of course there isn't enough sugar or too much milk in it, I don't know anymore, but he was nagging again. So I told him that it is not my job to get his fucking coffee, that he can shove it up his lazy ass and if he won't thank me for getting it for him right now, I'll quit."
    
    "Quitting is not being sacked."
    
    "It is when your boss throws you out before you can say another word." 
    
    She increased the pout on her face and let herself be pulled into the demons side.
    
    "I don't understand what the heck went wrong. I just wanted a nice and easy job that gave me the feeling of being a valuabe part of society and not some useless chick that got all her money only by chance."
    
    "Oh, shut your pretty mouth, you are not useless. You're very valuable to me. In fact, you could be really useful."
    
    Hearing the thoughtfull tune in his voice, Donna turned her gaze towards his face and found an expression she knew all too well. 
    
    "Stop scheming!"
    
    "I don't scheme."
    
    "Oh, yes! You do! You have that look on your face. The same look you had before you modified my reading glasses with holy fire."
    
    Crowley smirked at the recent memory. Donna hadn't been home when he had the idea that she should finally be able to see what she's always been cuddling with and when she had later put on her glasses to continue reading her cheap novels, he had already forgotten about her glasses new advances. Her reaction upon seeing the feral looking beast consiting of sharp teeth, long claws and thick, dark smoke had been hilarious. "I just had the best intentions", he chuckled.
    
    "You just were a dick as usal. Now spill it! What are you plotting?"
    
    Crowley mulled over the rights words to use, before he cleared his throat and shared his idea with her. 
    
    "Well, you want a reason to get up in the morning", he recapitulated, waving his hand first at her and then at himself. "And I need someone clever to take over the crossroad business." 
    
    "No!", Donna exclaimed before he even had finished his sentence. Crowley starred at the woman as sheshook her head, her red hair flying widly from the movement. 
    
    "Come on! At least, hear me out", he demanded with a frown.
    
    "No! I don't want to have anything to do with your eternal damnation crap. I can't trick anyone into selling their soul and I don't have the stomach to kill them later on. I'd do a lot for you, but I won't hurt anyone." Determined, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave Crowley a firm look. He held his palms up as he spoke loudly over her protests, causing the woman to raise her voice, too.
    
    "It's not tricking people. We don't approach ou customers, they call us! And they make the deal knowing what the conseauences are."
    
    "Oh, I've read all about the ways of demons. Don't try to play it down!"
    
    "It's not even the kind of work I had in mind. You'd be more like supervisor, not really doing anything but telling people what to do."
    
    "You are like those bankers. 'We don't pressure people into taking out a loan, they run up debts for fun!'"
    
    "I thought the job was perfect for you, you love to boss people around!" 
    
    "And you love to put me into situations that I'm not comfortable with."
    
    "If you're so uncomfortable around me then maybe I should leave."
    
    "Fine!"
    
    "Fine!", Crowley yelled so loud that he wondered if the neighbours could hear them. 
    
    With a huff, Donna turned around and stormed away into the kitchen. The demon could hear the banging  drawers and cabinets being angrily pulled open and slammed shut. He took a minute to calm himself down, then followed her. 
    
    He stopped in the doorway, giving her some space to decide if she  wanted him here right now or not. The microwave pinged and the room was filled with the mouth-watering smell of chinese food as Donna took out the hot plate and put it on the table. Two plates had been set out and a bowl with already heated up rice stood next to them. 
    
    She sat down and pilled an excessive amount of food on her plate. "Next time we should eat first and then fight, so I'll have enough energy to take up with your crap." 
    
    "Please, that wasn't a fight", the demon said with amusement in his voice. "That was just me offering you a job and you declining it." He took the seat opposite off her and filled his own plate.
    
    "You know I have come to terms with, well", she paused, her fork vaguely waving in his direction. "With everything you are. But you know that I don't want to take part in... That." 
    
    "You're right, it was just a rash idea, but I won't come up with it again. You told me where you drew the line and I won't push you over it", he promised her with a sincere expression. But I can still flash some treats to lure you over, he thought to himself as he stretched out his legs and trapped her ankle between his feet. 
    
    Pleased with Crowley giving in, Donna gave him a consenting smile. "Thank you." She turned back to her meal and continued eating, her foot under the table firmly pressed against Crowley's.
    
    _____________________________________
    
    "Your hair looks great, now hurry up!"
    
    "It's so flat. Don't you think it's to flat?", Donna asked uncertain, her hands tousling through her fiery hair. She turned from the mirror in the hall towards Crowley, who already stood outside and impatiently held the front door open for her to follow. 
    
    "You look perfect, my love. Can we please go now?" 
    
    Donna let her annoyance swing in her voice. "Why are you in such a hurry? The movie doesn't start before eight." 
    
    "I've got something to take care of before we go and see the movie." 
    
    "Wait", she said with one hand hold out towards him before she bend over and threw her hair forwards, and just as fast stood up straight again. She repeated the movement and then ran her fingers through her puffed up hair. On her way out, she threw on her heavy coat and pulled the lapels up to guard herself against the cold winter weather. "Okay, let's go!" 
    
    "Finally", he sighed as she stepped through the door, but then he let his head drop in defeat as she turned on her heels and walked back inside. "What now?"
    
    "You can drive a car without car keys?" She snapped them off the hook and rushed past Crowley to her red Mini cooper. Actually, she had wanted one of those big flashy cars that important people in the hollywood bluckbusters drove, but she had realised that, living in a cramped city, the smaller her car was, the smaller was the likelihood to bump against something. 
    
    "So, what's the thing you've got to take care of?", she questioned as they drove into London City. "Some soul you've got to suck out of somebody? Some black cat you've got to sacrifice?"
    
    "Donna, darling, I need you to stop watching Twilight Zone. It plants stupid ideas into your pretty head. Now follow St Mary Axe, then take the turn left and pull into the second drive on the right side."
    
    "I don't want to witness you doing any of your demon stuff. 'Til now, I successfully blocked out that I'm sleeping with a creature from hell, but this would be kind of counter productive." 
    
    "Relax", he tried to reassure her. "I'm meeting an employee and not a costumer."
    
    Swallowing down her further complains and gathering her strength for a proper I-told-you-so-speech, she followed his instructions and drove into a narrow one-way street. Tall buildings stood high on both sides, looming over passersby, all build in the same fair stone, every house mirroring the other. 
    
    She counted the gateways and turned into the right one. The narrow driveway lead them down into a small underground car park. Donna navigated the Mini onto a lot between a blue van covered in dirt and a shiney black bentley and cut off the engine.
    
    "You gonna wait here?", Crowley asked as he got out of the car. 
    
    "No way am I gonna stay alone in the creepy dark car park of your evil villain headquarter." 
    
    The demon rolled his eyes at her and threw the door shut to hide his amusement. Donna hastened to unfasten her seatbelt and follow him. When she catched up with him, he took her hand and pulled it into his coat pocket, their fingers entwined in the warmth. 
    
    They walked back out onto the street and towards an unimposing entrance with a square business sign attached next to the door with a security lock. To Donna, it looked like every other office building in the street and even the label reading "Hades Finance and Accounting" was too obvious to raise suspicion. 
    
    In the small, but modern looking lobby sat a clean-shaven man in a black suit behind a high desk. He struggled to his feet as he saw Crowley entering stuttered out a polite greeting. The demon didn't take note of him and walked right past him towards the elevator. 
    
    Crowley let her hand drop as they rode up to the second floor and the elevator's door opened with a ping. He lead her with confident steps through the corridor and she whipped her head arround from one side to the other to take everything in. 
    
    The rooms had the typical high ceiling of every old building, yet the interior was bright and modern. Through the glass doors she could sneek a peak into the offices where more people in dark suits sat over yellowed, old papers, scrabbling some notes and scratching others out or typed swiftly at their computers. 
    
    "So, all the talk about hell and demons was just a farce to deflect from your actual job of hunting aliens with the Man in Black?", Donna remarked in a sharp tone, still a little skeptic about the purpose of Crowley's meeting.
    
    "It's a timeless piece of fashion culture", Crowley answered unfazed. "Now shut your little cakehole, before my employees stop respecting me, or you'll be responsible for at least two deaths." 
    
    Ignoring Donna's heated glare, he stopped infront of a glass door and knocked insistently. Without waiting for an answer he stalked into the office with open arms. 
    
    "Winnie! My pet!" 
    
    The adressed woman looked up from her paperwork and started smiling so wide that Donna feared her face would split in half. Behind old-fashioned glasses glistened a pair of beady eyes surrounded by deep wrinkles. Her greying hair was pined up in a tight knit and her dark pantsuit looked new and spotless. 
    
    "Mr. Crowley", she greeted him good-natured. "What can I do for you?" 
    
    "Most recent quarter's stats, if it is no inconvenience."
    
    "No inconvenience at all!"
    
    She pulled a thin folder out of a drawer and handed it over to him. 
    
    "The figures aren't as good as anticipated", she said sheepishly as he went over the papers quickly. "But we don't have them all, yet. Some haven't send all their newest contracts, yet."
    
    "A shame." With a sigh he closed the folder and gave it back to her. "But the fifa world cup is this year, you should be able to increase the number of new contracts again. If not, then you can pick the most non-productive demon and send him to me. You can have your wicked way with the second worst", he said with wink that put a smile back on her face. 
    
    Donna watched the exchange in confusion until she couldn't keep quiet anymore. 
    
    "You're a demon, aren't you?" 
    
    Winnie looked at her as if she noticed her for the first time and then turned towards Crowley. 
    
    "Who's the human?"
    
    "Excuse my bad manners!", he burst out with a grin on his lips that looked uncomfortable. "Donna, this is Winnie, she's responsible for northern european statistics and bookkeeping. Winnie, this is Donna, my dinner date", he said in a conspiratorial tone and Winnie let out a deep-throated giggle that send shivers down Donna's spine.
    
    "Nice to meet you", she said politely and shook the other woman's hand, her grip firmer than usual as she tried to hide her discomfort behind her self-confidence. "So, you work for Crowley?"
    
    "Yeah, it's all pretty boring. Juggling with numbers, reminding co-workers of expired deals, tracking down rogue demons. I nearly don't have the time to enjoy the occasional piece of man", the woman tittered.
    
    Donna raised a questioning eyebrow towards Crowley, who was laughing politely. 
    
    "She means the non-sexy way", he told her cryptically, before he added quickly "And I can't be held responsible for what my employees do in their spare time. Winnie, my sweetheart, there's one more thing you could do for me", Crowley changed the female demon's focus back on himself. "Do you have any news about the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show?" 
    
    She turned to her computer and made a thoughtfull noise after some mouse-clicks.
    
    "They didn't have a come back as far as I'm informed."
    
    "What a relief. Thank you, Winnie, you're a pearl. I've got to go, but it' s been a pleasure as always."
    
    "Oh, the pleasure was all mine, Mr. Crowley."
    
    He blew her a kiss as a goodbye, then took the perplexed Donna by her shoulder and led her outside. 
    
    "What the hell was that?", she demanded to know as they stepped out into the street again. She wasn't sure if she had the right to be angry with him at he moment, still she shook his hand of and glared at him. Even though he had spoken true and she didn't have to witness any immoral or stomach turning incidents, just the normal, boring business stuff, the normality had left her puzzled and it irritated her to feel left out.
    
    "That was Winnie, she keeps track of the crossroad demons in this part of the world for me. She's good at the job, intelligent, and better at handling modern technology than most demons if you consider that she died 150 years ago.
    
    "You know the creepy demon lady wasn't what I meant. Don't think that I don't know exactly what you tried to doby dragging me into this stupid thing you call a meeting. You didn't care about the figures at all, you just needed a reason to show me your little demon business." 
    
    "You got me. I just wanted to show you that there's more to hell than mindless torture. You wouldn't listen to me and this was the only other way." Not sounding sorry at all, he put his hands in his pockets and met her scorching eyes with a calm expression.
    
    Donna stopped short on the sidewalk and stood with her hands on her hips. 
    "Just because you're pretending that it's all just a big business corporation doesn't mean that I'll start helping with you and your collection of innocent souls to torture."
    
    "For the hundredth time, they're not innocent and it's not all torture. And I just wanted you to understand the whole aspects of my offer. I'd still accept it if you said no."
    
    "Good, 'cause my answer is still no."
    
    "Fine, then I won't bring it up again."
    
    Calculating, she looked at him before she continued to strut to the car. Crowley followed her, grinning to himself. He quickly sobered as she addressed him again. 
    
    "And did you just tell her that you'll eat me?!"
    
    "Yeah, well, I told you I don't want them to know about you. They could hurt you to hurt me. Plus, Winnie digs eating human flesh."
    
    "Then why are you so determined to
     suck me into that world? That doesn't make sense at all!"
    
    "I don't know how you couldn't notice this until now, but" he raised his hands in a flourish gesture "I am an egoistic arsehole who wants to spend more time with you." 
    
    "Is that your attempt at sweet-talk?"
    
    "Is it working?"
    
    Donna didn't want to dignify the question with an answer, instead she squinted her eyes at him and then got the car. 
    
    The demon was already sitting on the passenger seat, twirling his thumbs and trying to look as innocent as possible. "Look", he said in a grave voice. "I'm sorry for tricking you and I accept your decline of my offer and we can never again speak about this if you don't want to, okay?"
    
    She took in a deep breath through her nose, visibly relaxing a bit. "Okay, but I am still mad at you." 
    
    "As you are entitled to", he answered, quickly pulling his hand back from where he wanted to lay it on her leg and put it back into his own lap. 
    
    An uncomfortable tension hang between them, as Donna refused to meet his eyes. She started the car and was thankful for the motor's rumble filling the silence.  
    
    She had made it as far as stearing the car out off the car parc, when her coulnd't stand it any longer and her curiosity started to push questions out of her mouth.
    
    "What if I want to talk about it?" 
    
    Crowley turned his eyes from the passenger window back to her, his eyebrows knitted tightly together to surpress the grin that wanted to spread across his face. He couldn't make a wrong move now. He had worn her down and Donna seemed finally willing to consider working with him. 
    
    "Talk about what exactly?"
    
    The human went through all the questions she had in her mind, before she aettled with one of the easier ones. 
    
    "How did Winnie become your employee? Did she make a deal with you?" 
    
    All the muscles in Crowley's body relaxed at once. He hadn't even noticed that he had tensed up this much. This wasn't the kind of question he had anticipated, but it was a good start. He could work his way up from this irrelevant topic to the more important one.
    
    "No, I never met her until she had become a demon. You know how that happens?"
    
    "Yeah if a soul suffers in hell over a long time, it becomes dehumanized. Why was she in hell?"
    
    Crowley looked forward out of the wind shield, thinking about where he could begin with Winnie's story. "It's around 1848, the middle of the great irish potato famine. The british government isn't any help and a quarter of the Irish population is starving to death. Everyone is hungry, everyone except for Winifred Kerrigan."
    
    "Oh, no", Donna groaned and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "So, the not sexy kind of devouring men is literally devouring them?"
    
    "Exactly. She later died of the flu but murdering and eating people got her into hell."
    
    "Obviously."
    
    "A century later I met her demon self lurking after some homeless people and I offered her to work for me in exchange for food. Now she can have her pick of fresh meat out of the pit."
    
    "Okay, that's enough cannibalism for today. You better change the topic before I change my significant other."
    
    Crowley rolled his eyes, but complied. With minor interest, he asked about the trip to rome of Donna's cousin, which the woman quickly turned into a rant about all the reasons why she would never sit in an airplane next to her mother. 
    
    Neither mentioned Crowley's offer again, until they were seated in the squashy chairs inside the theater, Liam Nelson shooting bad guys on the screen. 
    
    Without taking her eyes from the movie, Donna leaned over the armrest and whispered into Crowley's ear. 
    
    "I will try it, but it doesn't mean that I'm gonna do it. If only one thing is rubbing me the wrong way, I'm out of there."
    
    "Sure", Crowley answered with a loopsided grin and patted her hand. "Whatever you say."


	13. Chapter 13

The grey buildings looked between the lush grey trees and the clear blue water as if someone had taken an eraser to the scenery and left it with some blanc spots. They seemed run-down and abandoned, the one closer to the water reservoir even more so and Donna eyed it warily, expecting the grey cement to crumble in on itself.

"When you first told me about the headquarter of demon deals, I assumed it would be in New York or L.A., maybe even Las Vegas. Not in Stockville, Kansas. I wasn't even able to find this place on a map."

"That's the thing about secret headquarters. You put them were no one predicts them to be. Leave the luggage in the car for now, I'll give you a tour first."

Crowley led her to the entrance of the bigger building, but before he could pull the door open, she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"If there are rats or any kind of vermins I'm gonna scream and I'm gonna punch you and then I'll take the next flight back to London."

"Your optimism is the radiant light in my life. Give me some credit for once, would ya?"  

With a flourish he let them both in. Donna stopped in her tracks as she took a first look at her new home. 

Instead of the cold, wet concreate she had expected, the floor was made out of polished, dark wood and the walls were covered in a green and gold paterned wall paper. At the opposite wall, a curved staircase led to the upper floor. Crowley hit the lightswitch and a small chandelier glinted above them. 

"This is the waiting area for business guests," Crowley explained with a wave of his hand towards a pair of black leathern sofas. "Through this door is the dinning room and the kitchen. We usually just use it when we have guests, but I'll make sure that it's stocked, so you can always find something to eat in there. There is a lounge with a bar in the next room and a library enclosed to it. Follow me."

They walked down a long corridor with Crowley pointing out supply rooms, guest rooms and offices. Infront of some doors stood mean looking men in business suits. Donna had enough experience by now to know that they were all demons, yet what they were guarding, she could only guess. 

"This is my office," Crowley told her as they walked into a large room with dark panels on the walls and a big polished table in the middle. Behind it were high shelves packed with old looking books. Crowley didn't stop but went through a door to the side. The following room was bursting with even more books. "This is the library. You walk through the door to the left, you're in the gallery, through there you get back to the start. And in here's your office." 

Donna watched in excitement as Crowley opened the door, but instead of the posh, neat room she had anticipated, this one was full of stacks of yellowed papers and folders. With wide eyes she squeezed past unlabelled boxes towards the fully occupied desk and breezed through one of the piles of papers. Dust swirled up and tickled her nose. With one hand havily landing on top of it, she let out a deep sigh and looked up at Crowley.

"You've got to be kidding me, right? When was the last time someone went through this stuff? During the inquisition?" 

"My last man for the job got himself fired, literally, when I saw the mess he'd made. I don't know if Lillith didn't know about it or if she didn't care. Turns out demons aren't any good at bureaucracy, who would have thought? But to rule this mess I need a certain amount of order. You're the best temp there is, so go on and do your best." 

"Me and my stupid, big mouth," she groaned. "Please remind me why I agreed to do this?" 

"Because you can't say no to this pretty face", he grinned. "And I really need someone I can trust. Come on, I show you your place. That'll cheer you up." 

Crowley had not promised to much. As soon as Donna saw the rooms she would stay in her eyes began to sparkle in delight. She nearly danced through the room as she took ecerything in. The floral wallpaper, the large window with a beautiful view over the water reservoir and the heavy curtains. A large bed stood in the middle, the covers feeling soft to the touch. A table and a dresser stood against the wall, on the other side were two doors, one leading into a walk in closet, the other towards a luxury bathroom. 

"This I could get used to", she said, letting herself drop down onto the bed. 

Smiling, Crowley leaned over her and gave her a slow kiss. "This I could get used to," he murmured and deepened the kiss. 

Donna's hands were sliding Crowley's jacket down his shoulders when suddenly there was a knock on the open door. They broke apart, Donna awkwardly sat up, her face a blushing red, while Crowley lounged on the mattress, a rougish grin on his face. In the doorway stood one of Crowley's footmen with his hands full with Donna's suitcases.  He deposed the luggage next to the closet before turning around and finally adressing the two.

"Is there anything else?" 

"Yeah," Crowley drawled. "You can continue with the cockblocking."

The demon nodded his head and, obviously used to Crowley's sarcasm, went outside, closing thd door behind him. 

Crowley immediately had his hand on Donna's shoulder and pulled her down onto the bed. She quickly sat up again and twisted out of his grip.

"No, it's strange when they know what we're doing in here." 

"Oh, come on. They gonna think that's all we do whenever we're in the same room together. These demons don't know about us, they just think you're some human plaything that I brought home for my own amusement and as long as it stays this way, you'll be safe." 

Donna raised her eyebrows.

"Your plaything? You know what, this plaything has some work to do. If you need me, you'll find me in my office, Mr. Crowley." 

Whipping her hair over her shoulder, she stood up and left the room.

Crowley let out a groan as he sank back against the cusions. It was her unpredictable, wild nature he loved about Donna. Unfortunately it was also her unpredictable, wild nature he hated the most sometimes. 

 

* * *

After the first week, Donna caved in and went out with Crowley. She kept complaining about the amount of work she had to go through, while he tapped away on his phone, conducting his minions and keeping in touch with his partners. At the end of the evening he promised her to help with the workload and during the second week Donna got her first personal assistant. At the end of it, Crowley send him back to hell, because he couldn't get his own work done while he could hear Donna bashing the poor man. It had something to do with using the wrong filing system, shredding the wrong papers and making a bad coffee. Crowley didn't care, he was just glad when Donna continued to work alone in silence, only nagging him about the hard work during their time off. 

It was another week later when Donna went into Crowley's office, a pile of files under her arm. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed a handfull of demons scattered around the room. Crowley sat on his desk, a foul look on his face. Next to him, on top of his desk, sat a demon in a beautiful female body. Her blonde hair fell in thick waves over her shoulders. A wave of jealousy washed over Donna as she saw those long legs close enough for Crowley to touch. In fact, if he just turned his head around he could look right up that short dress of the demon. Instead of paying attention to the beauty next to him, he regarded Donna with irritation.

"Didn't I tell you to knock before entering my office?"

Not wanting to look weak infront of all those demons, Donna straightened her back and walked further inside to put the files on his desk right infront of him. She could feel the womans green eyes looking her curiously up and down.

"These need to be talked about." 

"Sweetheart, I'll talk to you all night long, if you know what I mean," he said leering. "But right now papa has bigger problems."

Communicating with her eyes that he would have to pay for this later, she turned back around and walked out without paying any more attention towards the demons. 

This evening, Donna had sworn to herself to be angry at Crowley until he had completely explained to her what he had to talk about with his men that she wasn't allowed to hear, yet when he later stood inside her bedroom, his hair disheveled and his suit torn, she couldn't keep herself from walking over and fuzzing over him, searching for any injuries. 

"I'm fine," he put her mind at ease. "I haven't been hurt, but we lost some strenght today." 

"What the hell happened?" Donna demanded to know as she led him towards the bed. Crowley dropped his coat and his suit jacket, and slipped off his shoes before settling on top of the mattress. Donna, already dressed in her pyjama, sat next to him. 

"Well, there are a few groups in hell who don't like the thought of me as their king. Now and then I have to go and smite them before they become to big to handle. Today, you walked into one of our war councils. Playthings don't have anything to do with such important matters." 

"The other plaything was allowed to stay," Donna replied dryly. 

"The other-? Oh, you mean Belphegor," Crowley let out a deep laugh. "He likes people to think he is, but no, he's one of my best crossroad demons and a most trustworthy confidant." 

"Does she...he know about us?"

"He will have his thoughts about us by now. Specially about you." 

"About me? There's nothing special about me."

"He doesn't know that yet."

"You're supposed to tell me that I'm wrong, that I am special," Donna complained, throwing a pillow into his face, chuckling.

Crowley grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, effectively keeping her from hitting him again.

"You are! You are most special to me, darling," he said and kissed the top of her head. 

Donna sighed and sank into his embrace. 

"Sleep, sweetheart," he murmured into her hair. "If you have any more questions, I'll answer them tomorrow."

"I'll hold you to it," Donna mumbled, but she listened to him and closed her eyes and sooner than later she had fallen asleep in the comfort of his arms.

* * *

 

"Mr. Crowley, how can I be of service?" 

The blonde played with soft strands of his hair, the perfect picture of innocence and humbleness. 

"For both our sakes, cut the act, Belphegor," Crowley told the demon. 

He immediately stood up straight and let his hands fall to his sides. The ignorant air around him dropped off and he was all business.

Crowley didn't have the patience to play any games, not tonight.

"You know why I summoned you."

"To talk about the human."

"You know who she is."

"Miss Donna Noble," Belphegor answered, sounding almost giddy. "You found her and brought her here under false pretence. With her under our thumb, we can force the doctor to work for us. When will you tell him that we have his precious friend?" 

"We will keep this between us for now. She will be the ace up in my sleeve until it's necessary to get out the big guns, but for now we have the chance to seize hell without showing how big our stick really is." 

"What could be bigger than hell?" Belphegor's eyes went wide and he leaned in closer, whispering. "You mean heaven?"

"Not before we have hell under wrap," Crowley answered in the same conspiratorial way.  "But only a few know about the doctor and even less know about his connection to Donna Noble. I'd like it to stay that way."

The other demon nodded obedient.

"I understand, I'll keep the secret and the human safe."

"Good boy," Crowley winked and walked around his office table to pour two glasses of scotch. "Now, let's have a toast. To the ace up our sleeve." 

"To the ace up our sleeve," Belphegor repeated and clinked his glass against Crowley's.  

**Author's Note:**

> for more crowna go here = http://royaltyofhell.tumblr.com/


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